Enter Rock Lee
by One Dreary Night
Summary: Rock Lee leaves Konoha to travel around the continents to challenge anyone and everyone in his path. Please read and review.
1. Fatal Dreams

Enter Rock Lee

It's been some time since Rock Lee decided to travel across the continent to challenge other powerful ninjas to see how he measures out there in the world. After getting his injured limbs treated by the infamous Tsunade, he had told his instructor, Gai about his plan.   
  
"Hmmm…so you think you have learned enough to travel on your own?" Gai questioned his student as he sat cross legged on the floor, his bulky arms crossed in front of his chest. Rock Lee haven't thought about that and immediately realized that he might have been a bit arrogant and ungrateful for all the skills he had been taught by the man sitting before him. He instantly got on his knees and he frantically tried to apologize.  
  
"I…I'm sorry, Gai sensei! I didn't want to seem ungrateful to you, I…" the thick browed boy was cut off by the rich laughter of his equally thick browed teacher. He sat there and laughed with his arms crossed, making his student blink in confusion. Then he pounded his hand on top of Lee's right shoulder and gripped it tight as his eyes began to tear up. The sudden change of emotion caught Lee off guard, but somehow he was touched by the gesture.   
  
"Lee, your confidence and your determination was what led me to you in the first place. And I know that you are capable of becoming stronger on your own now," Gai stated proudly.  
  
His teacher's words touched his heart. Rock Lee bit his lower lip to keep himself from crying.   
  
"G-Gai sensei!" he yelled as he embraced him. His teacher held him in his arms and they both bawled like there was no tomorrow.   
  
"Cry, Rock Lee. Cry! Sometimes it is alright for even us tough, passionate men to cry!" his teacher instructed him.   
  
They both cried throughout the night, which annoyed quite a few neighbors, who threatened to murder the duo of passionate fighters.

**Chapter 1: Fatal Dreams**

Fast forward to present day, it's been exactly a week since Rock Lee had decided to leave Konoha to see the world. He had been lost in the mountains for the past two days and his map had been soaked with rain. Leaping from one tree to another, he tried to see if he can get a glimpse of a nearby town or another human so he can ask for directions. Then he spotted a fellow traveler not too far away from where he stood. He sped to his direction and landed about five feet away from the man. He approached him and smiled as he scratched the back of his head.   
  
"Excuse me. Can you tell me how I can get off this mountain? And if it isn't any more trouble, can you tell me the location of a nearby town?"   
  
He waited for his response, but the man continued to walk aimlessly around the woods, his face hidden by shadow.   
  
"Um, excuse me sir?" he put his hand on the man's shoulder and turned him around to face him. When he did, the man's neck dangled and straightened. On his face was a demented smile and a blank stare, similar to that of a mad man. He giggled lightly as he shook his head left and right like a child. Frightened by the man's expression, Lee let go of his shoulder and backed away from him. The man turned around and continued to skip deeper in the woods.   
  
"That…That was weird," he whispered. He spotted few other travelers from a distance, but decided against asking them for direction. He was too afraid.   
  
"This is definitely not good…" he worried as he finally gave up and returned to his camp. The fire he had made earlier was crackling and burning intensely. It had nearly burnt his fish dinner so he quickly placed the barbeques aside so he can pick it when it was at an edible temperature. He had placed his map beside the fire so it'll dry off faster, but there was no use. The ink had already smeared and the paper was torn at odd angles.   
  
"At this rate, I won't be able to get off this mountain until the end of this week." The boy sighed and looked up into the starry sky. It was quite alright for him to travel when he was with his teammates, but it felt awkward to travel alone and without a specific goal. All he wanted to do was test his strength and become stronger by the end of his journey. It was a very vague quest to begin with, but his heart and mind was set in doing this and giving up was definitely not an option.   
  
He bit into his dinner rhythmically while his mind drew a blank on what to do. Just then, he felt a strange vibe around him. His ears picked up few sounds of the brushes rustling from a distance. His muscles immediately tensed up in instinct, but he remained seated in his spot. He finished his dinner and turned around quickly to reflect a barrage of shuriken with the clean picked fish bones. Lee jumped outside the clearing and blended into the shadows then scaled the highest tree near him and remained silent as he watched his attackers gather around the bon fire with puzzled expressions.  
  
"Where did the kid go?" one of them asked. The others shrugged and begin to rummage through his things.   
  
"Who cares, the idiot left all his things when he ran away," the second guy smirked, sitting by the fire while his companions looked for things that they might be able to sell at the markets. The third guy picked at one of the fishes and spat it out with a disgusted look on his face.   
  
"God, these are all burnt!" he complained. Rock Lee already calculated that they were probably all genin level ninjas from the precision of the shurikens and the timing of their response and began to plan out his line of attack. He crossed his arms and fell into deep thought, but 30 seconds later, he decided a full frontal attack was his best option and jumped out of his hiding. The third ninja looked up into the air when he heard a loud shouting, only to be pounded in the face by a blue sandal. Lee used his face to propel himself backwards and performed a summersault in mid-air. The first and second thief instinctively drew out their kunais and swung wildly in front of them. Rock Lee dodged their assaults, reached out with his hands and found their heads. Then he held on to them as he projected himself forward and rammed their guts with his knees.   
  
He quickly tied the thieves to a tree trunk with the bandages around his arms and dusted his hands. He faced them like a hero, with his hands placed on his hip and a stern look of justice on his face.   
  
"As much as I'd like to turn all three of you to the authority, I have a problem of my own and I was wondering if you guys can help me out. If you do help me, then I'll promise you I'll let you go."   
  
All three thieves gulped in unison.   
  
"So, what is it that you want to ask?" the second thief asked, still trembling in fear.   
  
Then Rock Lee's cold face had transformed into a bright smile. He held his hands together as he looked apologetically at his captives.   
  
"Can you guys help me get off this mountain?"   
  
………………………..  
  
Once he found his way down the mountain and into a nice quiet village, he broke his promise and turned the thieves in for a handsome amount of money. Apparently, those three had been skipping towns and traveling up the mountain to steal from weary travelers for a very long time. With his new found fortune, he decided to stay in a hotel since he wasn't quite fond of camping outside for another night. The hotel owner was a bit surprised when he entered, but he quickly gained his composure and smiled at his customer. He was a little too eager to take his money and give him his key, but Rock Lee took no notice of the strange behavior.   
  
He entered his room and set his bags on the far corner. He set his futon and changed into a plain robe. He laid his head on the pillow stared into the empty ceiling, his eyes half closed from exhaustion due to the previous nights.   
  
"I wonder if there are any strong ninjas in this town?" he thought out loud. Though he was tired, the idea of meeting new foes on his journey excited him. But it wasn't long before he fell into a deep slumber.   
  
_ He ran through the pasture of flowers as Sakura came running towards him from the opposite side. Everything was moving in slow motion from their movements to the way the flowers swayed back and forth. He was very happy to see her and she seemed to be equally happy to see him. They finally caught up to each other at mid point and embraced. Rock Lee blushed and looked into Sakura's face, only to be met with her fist. He tumbled down the hill and into a still pond.   
_  
_"Tha…that really hurt!" he yelled, getting back on his feet. Then he felt a tight grip around his ankle and looked down. He was unable to see who it was but he kept sliding deeper into the water. He gasped for air but the hand wouldn't let go, so he turned around to face the person trying to drown him._   
  
_"Ne…Neji?" Rock Lee was taken by surprise. Neji pulled his arms back and began to pummel his entire body with the secret taijutsu of the Hyuga family. Rock Lee felt his strength beginning to fade away with each attack, but he refused to lose. He used his agility to propel himself through the water and circled his target to create a huge cyclone. Once he felt that it was big enough, he watched the helpless Neji get pulled into the depth of the pond. Then Rock Lee realized that it was only a pond and that it shouldn't be so deep. He swam back to the shore and stared at the scenario around him._  
  
_"This…this is a dream…" he began, "but the pain…feels too real." When he looked across the prairie, he saw nothing but desert stretching across the horizon. He spotted a tiny figure seeming to carry something on his back, standing at the border where the desert and the prairie met and identified the person._  
  
_ "Ga…Gaara!"_   
  
_The little sand ninja began to run towards his direction. He was gaining speed with each step and with each step, the prairie slowly turned into a desert and created the illusion of a billion golden soldiers charging behind Gaara. Rock Lee stood in his defense position as he watched the desert storm pick up a huge tidal wave of sand. Realizing how critical the outcome might be, Rock Lee ran the other direction to escape its path and jumped back inside the pond. He watched the large amount of pebbles and sand cover the surface water._   
  
_ "Th…this maybe a dream, but it feels more like…a genjutsu!" he exclaimed._   
  
Everything went dark and a bright spot light came on, on top of Rock Lee. Then the darkness faded away into a beach scenery where he was met with a petite, young girl. She wore a white sundress and a little red bow on her auburn hair. She smiled at him with her wide gazing blue eyes and waved at him to try and catch his attention. He felt uneasy about his current situation, but nonetheless, decided to face this girl. He walked closer and crouched to her level and forced a smile.   
  
"So…are you the one responsible for this?" he asked her carefully, trying to seem friendly at the same time. She nodded happily and handed him a bright red balloon out of nowhere. He took it after a brief pause and pondered how a small child like her can perform such a high level genjutsu. She has basically entered his mind in his dream state and even caused mental harm on himself. He heard about this technique during his training with his instructor, but he doubted that he'll ever run into a battle where he'll be caught sleeping in front of his opponent. He stood up and looked down at the girl.

"Umm…so what are you doing in my dream?"   
  
The girl squinted her eyes and stretched out under the lazy sun. Then she placed her hands behind her back and smiled up at him.   
  
"I wanted to play…" she whispered. Rock Lee looked doubtful, but he consented to a little play time with her, which made her awfully happy. He played tag with the girl, who would constantly change the dream scenario and give Rock Lee a run for his money. He then would find himself catching up to her, only to find that she has changed the scenario into a high mountain, where Rock Lee would fall down a bottomless pit. It was frustrating to play with her since there seemed to be absolutely no way to win, which meant that the game will go on literally, forever.   
  
"I…can't go on any longer," he said, trying to catch his breath at the same time. He collapsed to the ground and found himself at his physical limit. The girl appeared in front of him with her lips pursed in anger.   
  
"You're supposed to play with me!" she shouted like a spoiled little girl.   
  
"I'm…sorry, but I'm really tired." Rock Lee thought it was strange that he was feeling so tired even in his sleep.   
  
The girl shouted and stomped on the ground, causing it to shake uncontrollably. He had a bad feeling about this, but he was unable to move his body.   
  
"Maybe you should let me go now?" he suggested with a hopeful look in his eyes.   
  
"No!" she shouted, jumping up and down. The girl stopped pouting and pointed her finger towards his direction.   
  
"If you're not gonna play, then you're not gonna live!" she screamed. Rock Lee tried to laugh off her threat, but his eyes widened when he saw the shadow around him growing bigger. He rolled away from his current spot and avoided being crushed by a huge boulder that fell out of the clear sky. The earth shattered beneath him and huge spikes sprouted to try and cage him. His mind was rushing and he couldn't formulate a way to settle this matter. He just kept running and running until he was out of place to run to. He was somehow cornered in a dark hallway while he wasn't paying any attention. He looked to his only exit and found the girl approaching him, her entire body covered in flame.   
  
"Damn! If there's no way to run to, then I'll just have to make my own exit!"   
  
Rock Lee delivered his powerful punches at the wall behind him and caused it to crumble in a matter of seconds. She kept trapping him in tight spaces, but he kept demolishing the walls to keep a safe distance from her. He ran blindly around the corner and stopped himself. He was in deep trouble. His path was crowded with the shadow replication of Naruto himself.   
  
"This is going to be very troublesome…" he grumbled. Then his face brightened up.   
  
"But then again, she has given me another to chance to fight against the opponents I have only dreamed of fighting." He looked at the Naruto replications with a grin and tightened his fists. Then he dashed across the hall with his arms dangling behind him. He climbed the side wall and jumped into a group of Narutos and round housed them into oblivion. Another group of Narutos had sneaked up on him and tried to hold him down, but with his new found strength, Lee exploded and knocked his opponents away with his signature spinning leaf kick. He elbowed another one behind him in his face and kicked out the knee of the one in front of him. He pressured the Narutos and choked them into a corner where only two of them remained in the end. They charged at him with their kunais and tried to rip into his flesh, but he waltzed around them and performed a simultaneous grapple move which caused them to fly head first into a concrete wall and turn into a cloud of smoke. Lee gasped and knelt to the floor. It was silent all around him and all he could hear was the sound of his own heavy breathing.   
  
'I'm so tired…it seems almost impossible…' he thought, looking around himself to see if the girl was anywhere near him. Then he was suddenly struck with an idea.   
  
'Wait a second…If I'm this tired, it would indicate that I am no longer in a resting state, which means I am clearly awake.'   
  
His eyes became narrow as he sank deeper into his thoughts.  
  
'But…I am definitely not in reality right now, which could only mean that my mind is being forcibly dragged into this world. So if that is how this jutsu works, then there is only one option left for me…'   
  
The walls began to collapse around him and the darkness consumed his setting. Alert by the sudden change, Rock Lee pushed himself upward and assumed his offensive form. He could hear the sound of another being approaching him fast, but he couldn't tell from which direction. He spotted a sort of spark from a distance and gritted his teeth when he recognized the sound.  
  
"I gotta get out of this dream before its too late!" Rock Lee gathered his hands in a way that suggested a hand seal. Then he shut his eyes and kept calm as the sound of 1000 birds chirping came closer and closer.   
  
The setting quickly changed into a deserted village of Konoha. He stood there with his hands still gathered. He was trembling as he tried to avoid being choked with his own blood. Sasuke stood with his chidori dug deep inside Rock Lee's abdomen. He kept his blank expression as he held his position and the little girl appeared from behind the Uchiha boy. She giggled feverishly and circled around Rock Lee. The blood began to leak from his mouth and trickle down his chin.   
  
"You're dead," she spoke calmly, smirking at his misfortune. Her smile broadened with each passing second. Then puzzled, she tugged at Rock Lee's shirt.   
  
"Why aren't you dead?" she asked, looking up at the boy. The blood dripping from the corner of his mouth became thicker when he tried to smile.   
  
"I…I have already made a small connection with my physical body," he claimed weakly.   
  
"When I figured out how this jutsu worked, I thought I was going to have to confront you, but I was wrong. Since you are dragging me forcibly into this state of mind, there was only one thing that I could do. I was going to have to forcibly drag myself back to my own state of mind…but…" he paused when Sasuke's hand dug deeper into his organs. He was close to fainting, but he refused to give up just yet.   
  
"Soon…I'll be out of here and I'll have defeated your jutsu. I don't know how you entered my mind, but I'm guessing there were many other victims before me…" his eyes were blazing with fury at the thought of other people becoming helpless victim to her tricks.   
  
She wiped the cold sweat from her eyebrows and trembled. She tried to hold his gaze with a fiery look of her own, but at the mention of being beaten for once in her life had took away her confidence.   
  
"I…I just wanted to play…" she began to tear up. "I just wanted to play! I just wanted to play! I just wanted to play!" Her chant continued to grow in volume as her tears dripped down on her shirt. Sasuke's form had faded into nothingness and as far as the eyes can see, there was only white. Rock Lee wobbled towards the girl, one hand placed on his wound, and hugged her softly.   
  
"You should look for playmates outside your dreams." She stopped her crying and focused her eyes on the ground.   
  
"I…I'm not good at that…Nobody likes me" she replied.   
  
"That's what I believed at first, too…" he said as he reminisced his days at the academy. He was always being picked on by other kids and never had any friends because he was unable to use genjutsus or ninjutsus. It was when he met Gai that he had overcome his trouble and gained respect from his peers.   
  
"But you'll meet someone who will like you for who you are and accept you," he finished, wiping the moisture from the corner of his eyes. She blushed a little and played with her fingers. She seemed troubled by something, but she gained reassurance from Lee's friendly gesture.   
  
"Will you be my friend?"   
  
"Of course," he answered without hesitation. She smiled and hugged him back.   
  
"Well then, I'll see you outside," he waved at her as he felt himself being pulled away back into his own reality. He saw her run towards him and wave back happily, shouting inaudible phrases.   
  
…………....  
  
Lee's eyes shot wide open. He sat back on his futon and wiped the sweat off his forehead with his sleeve. The clock that hung on the opposite wall read 11 A.M., which was 5 hours after his usual wake up time. He gathered his things and changed back into his green training suit and headed down stairs. He spotted the manager reading a magazine and held his key before his eyes. The manager faltered and crept away from Rock Lee.  
  
"What's wrong?" Lee asked, his suspicion beginning to grow.   
  
"H…how is it possible that you're alive!" the manager shouted in confusion. Then Rock Lee felt that he was definitely tied to the girl in his dream. He slapped the key on the table with confidence.   
  
"Talk."   
  
The manager told him his story. About 11 years ago, they sealed a girl with strange powers in the basement, where she slept for as long as anyone remembered. When she used to live outside the building, she would invade other people's dream and harassed them and in some cases, brought death upon many of the town people. At first, the seal worked, he said, and the town was safe from her fatal dream techniques. But about 5 years ago, his customers began to behave strangely after one night's sleep. When the owner checked on them himself, they seemed to be incapable of having rational thoughts and would walk aimlessly around his building. Then he came to a decision that the girl's tricks were still working, but they were still subdued by the seal itself and had only minor effects. So he kept it a secret from the town people and got rid of his customers late at night in the nearby mountain.   
  
'That probably would explain the traveler I met earlier…' Lee thought as he remembered the man's demented smile. Cold shiver went down his spine as he tried to shake off the mental image.   
  
"So…why is she sealed in this place?" Lee questioned him. The manager took out a sake bottle and poured the liquid in a tiny cup. He emptied the cup in one swipe and opened his mouth to speak.   
  
"Because this building is situated in a location which is farthest from the living complexes," he explained, "and also…She is my daughter. So I wanted to keep a close watch on her."   
  
Lee tensed up. He was even more furious at the manager at the mention of them being related. The man continued to drink and didn't even dare to look at the boy in his eyes.   
  
"So, you locked up your own daughter in your basement and denied her of her freedom?" his fist shook as he tried to keep himself under control. The man understood his point, but shook his head in frustration.   
  
"I…There was nothing else. I absolutely had no idea how to keep her powers under control! It was my only solution…" he babbled, wiping the tears from his eyes. Rock Lee couldn't take any more of this. He went straight down to the basement on his own and found a metal entrance with strange symbols painted all over the surface. The manager ran after him to stop him, but Rock Lee threw him back like a rag doll. He smashed his fists into the door and continued to hammer it down. He pulled his left leg back and side kicked the entrance, which crashed to the floor and kicked up a large amount of dust. He rushed inside the dim lit room and found an unoccupied futon lying on the concrete floor. He looked around confused and found a broken vent. He lifted himself up and crawled through the narrow space for some time until he found himself outside of the building. Knowing what it meant, he smiled and returned to the manager.   
  
"She escaped," he told him happily. The manager limped back to the entrance hall with a sort of shocked look on his face and put his head down on the counter.   
  
"Don't worry about her. She won't trouble anyone anymore…" he told him. The manager pulled his head up and glared at him with his blood shot eyes.   
  
"How do you know this?!" he shouted at him. Lee grinned and shouldered his back pack before heading outside the hotel. Once he was outside, he turned around and gave him a big thumbs up.   
  
"Because she is my friend," he stated proudly.

And the journey continues…

Author's Notes: It's been some time since I actually wrote something. Ciao. 


	2. Double Vision

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto. I never will.   
  
………………………………................................  
  
Not too long ago, Rock Lee decided to head towards Ichibawa, a booming city with its own beach port. From many unreliable sources he had come across, there seemed to be a retired jounin residing in that area, living as a fisherman among civilians. But in his prime, the man's skill had rivaled that of the Anbu captain in that region. Well, according to his sources anyway.   
  
"And he's able to perform over 1000s of jutsus!"   
  
"Ohhhh!" Rock Lee exclaimed as he listened intently to the bumbling old man resting in the forest temple. The old man took another drag of his pipe and blew out an impressive ring of smoke as he continued his story.   
  
"But he's dead now. I don't even know where you got the idea of meeting this person." The old man laid on his back on the temple floor. Rock Lee sat cross legged, few feet away from him. He tried to keep quiet, but decided to break the silence.   
  
"I…want to meet him because I need to know how I measure out there in the world," the thick browed boy said, a bit uncharacteristically timid. The man opened one eye and tilted his head to get a clear look at the boy. Rock Lee met his eyes, but quickly jerked his head away from him. The man chuckled to himself and drew out an old piece of rolled up parchment from within his shirt.   
  
"There's the map. You might as well visit that place," he told him, throwing the dirty looking paper at him. Rock Lee caught the scroll and looked at the old man.   
  
"There are still some useful bodies up there. You might be interested in meeting them," he said, coughing and turning away from Rock Lee's view. The boy grasped the scroll tightly in his hand and smiled.   
  
"Thank you, old man!" he shouted in joy as he jumped out of the building and began dashing across the woods. The old man laid back and stared into the wooden ceiling with a grin on his face.  
  
"Heh, that's the wrong way…"   
  
………………………………..............  
  
**Chapter 2: Double Vision**  
  
Rock Lee continued to run through the woods as he navigated his path with his new found map. But as he continued to do so, it only seemed to lead him further back into the woods. The situation seemed vaguely familiar with him, so he decided to stop since he couldn't afford to be lost again.   
  
"I'm…lost…" he whimpered as he check the map. When he carefully read the pin points on the paper, a sudden emotion took over him.   
  
"That old man gave me the wrong map!" he yelled, getting up from the giant rock he had been resting on. He shredded his map into pieces and kicked the boulder behind him, which shattered into a pile of pebbles. He's been extremely frustrated since the beginning of his journey because of his lack of sense of direction. He knelt to the floor dejectedly and sighed when he figured that there was no use in unleashing his anger. Listening to the chirping of the birds, it helped him calm down and think of things to do in the meanwhile.   
  
"Hmm…sensei did pack me a few scrolls…" he whispered, unpacking his bags to take out several scrolls. He carefully laid them out on the floor and stacked them by their width. Rolling one of the thickest one out, he began to read the characters and studied the demonstration sketches on the paper.   
  
"This is a totally different style…A style where rational thoughts and human emotions are discarded and you rely heavily on instincts alone," he read out loud as he held up the parchment.   
  
"Which means…I need to be unconscious in order to perform this taijutsu style," he ended with a big gulp. He wasn't so sure about learning this ability when he came to the section where it taught the user where the target pressure points were located. They were to be pressed hard in order to somehow stop the mind from emitting rational thoughts. It seemed like a double edge sword for Rock Lee.  
  
'There is too much at stake when using this form…There is absolutely no way I can control myself and there is no way of knowing when I will regain my consciousness!'   
  
After few minutes or so, he rolled back the parchment and placed it back in his back pack.   
  
"I can't use that technique ever. It is too dangerous…" he shook his head at the possibility of actually causing more harm than necessary. He kept calm for hours just sitting there and watching the clouds, but eventually became a victim of his own boredom.   
  
"I might as well go find a water fall to continue my training!" he yelled impatiently. He took his things and followed his ears to a river nearby. Then he continued to travel up the river to find a waterfall to practice some intense meditation. Just then, he caught a glimpse of a beautiful dark haired girl being carried away by the swift current.   
  
"Wow, that girl is almost as pretty as Sakura…What!?" His mouth opened wide and he had to do a double take to make sure what he had seen was real.   
  
He then used his heels as breaks to stop himself instantly and revert his path down the river. It only took him a few second, thanks to his incredible speed, but he had no idea how he was going to fish out the helpless girl. Once he was jogging at a steady pace, it occurred to him that in any moment, they will eventually meet a water fall. Rock Lee loosened the bandages around his arms and leaped over the girl. Once he was air born, he used it to quickly tie it around her waist and landed on the opposite side of the river. Then using his upper body strength, he pulled her out of the water and into his arms, which knocked him out on his back from the impact.   
  
He sat up straight, groaning, and rubbed his back to reduce the pain. The girl laid beside him, coughing up the river water. Since he had no luck with woman ever, Lee didn't exactly know how to approach her. So he crawled even further away from her and watched her as she finally calmed down. He admired her cute face as she turned around to look at her surroundings. When their eyes locked with one another, Rock Lee let out a tiny yelp and his body became rigid as a stone. She stared him with her azure eyes and frowned at his reaction.   
  
"You know, you don't have to be afraid of me…" she said. Rock Lee gulped and slowly moved his arm and reached inside his back pack. Then he formed a clean towel and gently tossed it in her direction. She briefly looked at the white towel on the ground, then took it and began to cleanse her hair of moisture. Rock Lee crawled closer to her and sat there cross legged under the tree's shade.   
  
"Um…"   
  
The girl opened one eye and looked towards his direction.   
  
"Say, you seem pretty strong," she commented, turning her head back to continue washing her hair. Lee blushed a little at her praise and remained silent. He looked down at the floor so he won't be caught lost in her looks, but then a damp material landed on his head and covered his vision. The scent left on his towel was strangely intoxicating and he wanted to leave it on himself, but decided against it because he didn't want to appear weird or stupid in front of the girl. Then again, it was probably what the girl already induced from his behavior.   
  
"So, you're a shinobi?" she asked crouching near where he sat.   
  
"N..not, not exactly. I'm a, a…A Genin! But I'm aiming to be a chuunin, once I um, get back to my village!" Rock Lee was having a hard time pursuing conversations that was actually started by a girl. He was stuttering and losing total control over the volume of his voice.   
  
Then she flashed him a genuine smile.  
  
"So you're saying that you're only a beginner," she said, being able to decipher his babbling.   
  
"Um, yeah.". Then not being able to take just talking about himself, he came up with a question of his own.  
  
"Say, um…What exactly were you doing that ended up in you nearly dying?" he asked bluntly. This ticked the girl off a little since she thought he made her out to be a bumbling idiot. Her eye brows twitched, but she was able to subdue her anger.   
  
"Well, I was just walking by the river to see the water fall and…things happened," she explained, trying to brush it off with a weak giggle. It seemed a little too vague for Rock Lee, but it created the perfect chance for him.   
  
"Would you…like to go and see the water fall?"   
  
She glanced at him and formed a victory sign.   
  
"I'd like that."   
  
They walked together up the river, but Lee made sure he was about 20 steps away from her side. It was an awkward walk, but she didn't make any attempt to draw him closer. Instead, she listened to the sound of the river flowing while Rock Lee just stared at the trees with mild interest. When they finally reached the water fall, Rock Lee was mesmerized by the beauty of the scenery before him. The clear water fall glistening under the sun to cause an illusion of a stream of diamonds rushing and swishing on the giant boulders beneath, carving them little by little to form what it was now today. It was a piece of paradise that Lee had always dreamed of in the back of his head. He shouted in joy and nearly stripped naked and dived into the water. Before it was too late, he realized that he was in the presence of an opposite sex and pulled his shirt back down, a bit embarrassed at his own enthusiasm. She giggled behind him and climbed down the rocky hills to reach the large amount of river water collected like a basin under the fall. Sitting down, she dipped her legs inside the cool water and relaxed. Lee jumped off the hill and landed underneath the water fall.   
  
'If I concentrated on my meditation, then her presence won't bother me too much,' he figured, while he sat in his 'self-search' position. As he took the pain of the stinging river water falling over his entire body, he was somehow able to clear his mind of thoughts and searched for inner peace. But his mind began to cloud with thoughts of the girl he had just met. His eyes were closed, yet they trembled uncontrollably as he tried to clear his thoughts of the girl.  
  
'This…is a bit difficult.'   
  
He sneaked a peak on impulse to see what the girl was doing, but she was nowhere in sight. He blinked and wondered where she went, eventually getting up from his position to get a better view. He looked around, but she seemed to have disappeared into thin air.  
  
"That's weird…Ah!"   
  
He shrieked as he felt himself being pushed over the edge and into the cold water. Shortly after his dive, he came back up to the surface water and sputtered. He looked up where he was standing a minute ago to find the girl smiling down at him menacingly.   
  
"What's the big idea?!" he yelled. She didn't respond and merely smiled down at him. Then her smile turned into a stern look as she shouted her order.   
  
"Do it now, sister!"   
  
He looked around to find another girl behind him, performing a complicated combination of hand seals. Puzzled, he looked back at the girl who was now standing on top of the water fall, concentrating on her own hand seals. They both shared the same face and the same garments.   
  
'Is…is this a copy technique?' he wondered. A mass of strange velvet color transmitted from both figures and connected together to create a semi sphere around the water fall. Rock Lee immediately realized that it was an entrapment jutsu, but there was no time to react. The cage had been completed.   
  
"This barrier allows us to battle you without being noticed by outsiders."   
  
"It also allows us to unleash our hidden power."   
  
It didn't really matter to him exactly what abilities that their seal had.   
  
"Just who the hell are you two!?"   
  
The girls leaped into the air and landed, back to back in front of Rock Lee.   
  
"We're the Takeyama Twins!" they shouted, stomping the water and holding a mirror image of the crane form.   
  
The boy's eyes twitched from the cheesy pose, but he didn't let his guard down. He took one foot out of the water and stood on the surface of the water. Then he took out the other one and did the same thing. He assumed his attack position, one hand tightened behind his back and one palm extending outward towards his opponent, and opened his mouth to speak.   
  
"So everything up until now was a deception to put my guard down," he stated.   
  
"What is it that you two want from me?"   
  
The twins looked at one another and smirked. Then they broke out into a frenzy of laughter. One of them continued to giggle as the other one calmed down to answer his question.   
  
"No, listen. Everything up until now was to measure the extent of your ability. From what we analyzed of your heroic duty before, you seemed unable to use ninjutsus and rely heavily on your strength alone."   
  
Her accurate profile of himself made him twitch.   
  
"Judging from your dorky looks, we assumed that you had something more going for you. But it is really disappointing."   
  
This made his eyes burn with intense flames.   
  
"You still haven't answered my question. What is it that you want from me?" he repeated.   
  
No longer laughing, the two girls placed one hand on opposite sides and pointed at his waist in perfect sync.   
  
"We want your head band with the engraving of your village symbol."   
  
Rock Lee didn't understand what they were saying and analyzed his own head band that was tied around his waist.   
  
"Why do you want it?" he looked up, confused. The twins were growing weary of his questions, but decided to answer it anyway.   
  
"We are on a quest to defeat 100 ninjas and in order to prove our victories, we'll need their village head band," one of them spoke. This made Lee's lip to curl up in one corner. He had set out to do the similar thing when he started this journey, but all he wanted were new refreshing challenges in every corner of the world. He didn't care for any existing proof of his victory, except in his memory.   
  
"Hmph, I think that's the wrong way to go about things, but I will place my head band on this match." He took off the said object and threw it on a safe ground at the edge of the running water. "But I think you both need to make your wagers, too!"   
  
They were both flabbergasted because nobody had ever dared to ask them something in return. Thinking maybe he had a perverted request in his mind, they made an unsure face at one another, but shook it off instantly. There was no way that they'll actually lose to someone who can't even do half of what other ninjas could do.   
  
"And what would you like?"   
  
"That…," the boy began, "I will tell you after this match!" He ran on top of the water and took out his supply of shurikens. He held four in between his fingers in both fists and attempted a jump kick on the twins. Once he hit the sister to the left squarely in the jaw, she transformed into a tree stump and splashed into the water. Quickly catching on, he threw his shurikens at the retreating sister, but failed to nail her. He landed in the shallow water and threw the other set of shurikens which skipped off the water and flew across the river towards her. She stopped in her path and performed a hand seal which caused a giant solidified mud to erode and build a wall in front of her. The shurikens bounced off the wall and it quickly disappeared back into the river. Rock Lee gritted his teeth in excitement and ran across to meet her. When he was half way there, the second sister rose from the water and caught him in a head lock.   
  
"Shit, so you transformed into a block of wood instead of evading my jump kick," he spoke, realizing the truth behind their first tactic.   
  
She grinned and threw him across to the other side of the shore. He bounced off the soft mound and rolled back on his feet. He shook his head to dry his hair off and dived back into the water. The sisters looked around their perimeter, not wanting to be caught off guard by the missing boy. Under water, Rock Lee took off the weights on his legs and swam around the entire river to cause a huge whirlpool. When the girls began to panic due to the changing currents, he approached them quietly and hooked his weights on each girl. Then he quickly swam away from them and rose back into the air. When he was back in their visual, they tried to move into a synchronized attack, but found themselves unable to move their ankles. In fact, they seemed to be sinking deeper into the mud and the girls panicked again.   
  
"It's my turn!" Rock Lee approached them with an incredible speed that was only possible without his weights. He turned around and spun upward to deliver an overhead kick against one of the sister. She flew off the water and bounced off the velvet barrier they have created themselves. Then not giving the other sister another moment to react, he disappeared into thin air and appeared right in front of her to knock her off her feet with his upper cut. She was sent flying upwards until she hit face first into the velvet barrier. Then she made a giant splash as she came back down.   
  
"Had enough?" he asked, his fists extended in front of his face. The sister in the far corner had already recovered and chuckled to herself. She swung her hair back and glared at her enemy.   
  
"That wasn't bad at all. Using that whirlpool to sneak weights onto our ankles and attacking us with your taijutsu…" She wiped the blood from her lips and stood up on her shaking knees.   
  
"Well, we've got a long day ahead of us because we also have a few things to show you!"   
  
The sisters regrouped then circled around Rock Lee. He read their movements carefully and opened himself up on purpose to further study their pattern. Immediately, one of them took the bait and swung her fist at his face, but missed him by a paper thin margin. Then one of the sister climbed her sibling and assumed the totem pole formation. They threw a barrage of sickles and kunais at the leaf's proud azure beast, but he easily dodged the flying objects. When he was ready to attack them, the top totem pole spread curse sheets all around them and escaped his peripheral vision. He charged at the sheets and was sent flying back from the impact. The stacks of paper were solid as titanium and had built a tower around the twins.  
  
"Absolute defense," he mumbled, remembering his battle with Gaara. His eyes opened wide when sets of metal chain links escaped from the corner of the paper tower and wrapped itself around his ankles. It began to toss him up and down and smash his figure on to large stone hills. It lifted him up high in the air and swung him down back into the water. When the chain links slid back up in mid-air, he was no longer tied to the end. The sisters peered through the corners to see where he had gone to and felt light foot steps running up the tower.   
  
"Shit, we shouldn't have lifted him so high in the air!"   
  
"He found the opening on the top!"  
  
Right after they have completed their sentences, a large shadow had cast over their head. Lee jumped inside the tower and landed within the confines. The sisters both flashed each other a sly grin and let go of their chakra control over the papers. It immediately crumbled into mere sheets and they escaped from Lee's confrontation. When they were out of his reach, they each formed the tiger seals and shot large streams of flame from their mouths. Lee ducked into the river and was immediately burned by the boiling water. When he got back up, he was blinded by the steam and was beaten from every angle. He managed to assume his defense position, but it was too late as he felt two different feet knock the wind out of him and send him flying underneath the water fall. He crashed into the surface of the hill and left a huge impression of his physique. He slid into a spot where he regained his consciousness immediately after feeling the stinging water fall on his face. Standing up, he gazed over the scenery and saw how much damage it had received. It didn't feel quite right for him to fight them in a place he thought of as his own piece of paradise. He should've preserved the place for others to observe, but he had been too caught up in his own quarrel to do so.   
  
The girls stood next to one another and watched Lee as he approached them, stumbling and nursing his right arm.   
  
"Hmph, are you giving up now?"   
  
Rock Lee couldn't seem to stop himself from shaking, but he stuck out his palm and made a gesture for them to continue.   
  
"I won't go down so easily. Not after I have gone through so much trouble deflowering this place…" he claimed.   
  
The girls recognized his persistence and found it to be admirable. However, they weren't about to forfeit the match. They gathered their hands together and collected a large amount of chakra within their body.   
  
Suddenly, their eyes rolled back in their skull. Only the whites of their eyes remained and they seemed to have no trouble with their vision. Rock Lee pounced on one of the girl and threw a fist over her head. He dodged her knee by stepping to his side and crouched down a millisecond before getting hammered on the head by the other sister. He tried to keep both sisters in his sight and not lose track of them, but the task was much easier said than done. He was growing awfully tired from trying to handle both of them at the same time.   
  
'What is it with them? They don't seem to show any blind spots,' he thought as he pulled off a back flip away from their attacks. As if they could read his mind, the girls paused their battle for a quick chat.   
  
"Our Double Vision is a blood line technique which allows the users to see what the other is seeing. This is most effect when it comes to covering each other's blind spot during battles. Also, our vision induces sleep from the target, so feeling really tired right now isn't out of the ordinary."  
  
Their explanation made Lee quiver. There was absolutely no way for him to defeat them in his current state. He was able to dodge and block most of their attacks, but eventually, he'll be caught up with his exhaustion and won't even be able to stand up.   
  
Unfortunately, he was so caught up on his own thoughts that he didn't realize that he was being held up from behind. Then the other sister ran towards him.  
  
"This one is for your reckless attack before!" She turned and spun in the air to deliver an overhead kick to his face. He was starting to not like splashing in the water at all. He tumbled over and got back on his knees.   
  
"You guys are really pushy!" he yelled.   
  
'But then again, I couldn't lose just now…The head band means much to me. I represent the village of Konoha and if it was to be taken away from me, I…'   
  
Lee stood up and regained his composure.   
  
'Opening the first gate is as far as I'll go.'  
  
The vein in his forehead became visible as he unleashed the first gate. The rush of excessive chakra had overwhelmed his body and pumped him up to prepare for his hidden technique. He circled around the girl and created a giant gust that nearly blinded them. Then he ran in within the circle and slid towards one of the sister.   
  
'If I crush one of them, then they'll no longer be effective!' he figured, as he kicked upward and met her chin.   
  
"Initial lotus!" he yelled, kicking her up into the air higher and higher. Just then, he felt the other sister grip his arms and smash his abdomen with her drop kick. He felt his breath being forced to leave his lungs. He fell head first into the middle of the water and remained there as he felt the excruciating pain from having garnered an excessive amount of chakra without success. His vision dimmed and his breath became harder. His hands shook and it didn't even feel like they were his limbs anymore.   
  
'I won't lose, no matter the cost…' he repeated in his mind. Then a little light bulb had turned on, inside his head.   
  
'There is only one thing I can do now.'   
  
Rock Lee dragged himself up and pressed the necessary pressure points behind his neck and on his face and he immediately felt his thoughts washing away in his mind.   
  
'Now I leave everything to fate,' he thought as the last bit of human emotions had drained away from him. His body limped and his face fell forward, away from the sister's view. They found it to be strange when the boy kept coming back with new found strength, but they were able to handle his attacks. However, the boy was being even weirder now, just sitting there in the water.   
  
"Is he unconscious?" one of the sibling asked the other. She merely shrugged and suggested that they check on the boy. The sister agreed and they both approached him and knelt down in front of him to check his status. When they got a bit closer, his hands shot out and held their necks tight. His eyes opened wide and he let out an inhuman screech. The sisters tried to force their way out of his grasp, but found themselves air born. The boy thrashed about his area and growled loud enough for the entire forest to shake.   
  
………………..  
  
The sun began to set and the woods became quiet, aside from the noises of the crickets. The loud discord in the forest had ceased not too long ago, but the remnants of the battle remained. Rock Lee woke up in cold sweat and found himself inside a familiar temple. The sisters were long gone and the old man he had been acquainted with previously was smoking outside. He tried to get up, but his body refused to listen.   
  
"Don't strain yourself, boy," the old man told him without even look towards his direction. Lee grumbled and remained quiet. Then he became curious as to how he ended up back in the temple.  
  
"How did I get back here?" he tilted his head and asked him. The old man shook his pipe and got rid of the collected ashes within.   
  
"I carried you back here after I put you to sleep," he answered. Rock Lee nodded his head knowingly. Then his eye ball rolled out of his skull and his jaw hit the floor.  
  
"You…You did?!"   
  
………………………………............

**Author's Note:** Hooray for plot development. Originally, it was supposed to be self-contained, but the chapter got a bit too long for my taste. So be sure to read the next one. Ciao. 


	3. Blood Hounds

_Disclaimer:_ I do not own Naruto. I never will.

The moonlight illuminated the boy's feature as he sat on the edge of the wooden plank of the old worn out temple. He glanced down at his fists and gripped them tightly, trying his best to recall his last battle. His eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then he let out a hopeless sigh. He looked at his clothes dyed in blood again and it scared him.

"You displayed something quite frightening."

Rock Lee recognized the voice. He let his arms dangle on his sides while he stared into the muddy puddle in front of him.

"I...I'm sorry about hurting your grandchildren..." the boy apologized. His fear had overshadowed any sincerity in his words. The Old Man walked around Rock Lee and sat next to him on the edge.

"No need for apologies. They were careless. I've told them countless times that their antics will soon bring forth an opponent...like you," he replied. The Old Man caught Rock Lee shivering slightly next to him and frowned at the sight.

"I think it's best if...you didn't use that tech--"

"You don't need to tell me twice,"Rock Lee interrupted. "I...I had no idea how frightening it could be, not to have any control over myself."

The Old Man nodded in silence. He remembered trying his best to subdue the boy himself when he found him on the verge of killing his own grandkids. He was left with no option, but to paralyze the savage ninja with fatal poison darts. He later applied remedies for the poison when the boy calmed down.

But he couldn't shake off the tremendous amount of fear he felt when he faced against him. He couldn't help but shiver himself, when recalling the memory of that abominable expression on the boy's face.

"How...are they doing?" the thick browed boy asked timidly. The question brought the Old Man back to reality. He regained his composure and calmly answered his question.

"They suffered some steep injuries, but nothing that can't be cured by Dr.Tenma."

Upon hearing that, Rock Lee gained some color in his face and he let out a sigh of relief. The Old Man was relieved as well at seeing the boy not shaking as badly as he did before.

"Just exactly why were they collecting the hidden village head bands?" he asked, after a few second of pondering. The Old Man scratched his head as he searched for the right words.

"Well, it served as their goal. Albeit, it was a dishonest thing to do, but..."

"...But?" the boy repeated.

"They were too deep in their philosophy. They honestly believed that the world would have nothing to offer to them if they were able to defeat 100 opponents in a row. They also believed that their opponents didn't deserve to wear their head protectors if they were defeated by two ninjas who have never seen the world themselves."

Rock Lee felt a ping in his heart. He, too, was on a quest to measure his strength and was amazed at how differently they approached the matter at hand.

"Would you like to see them?" the Old Man asked. Lee honestly wanted to see them, but something in his heart won't allow him the luxury of apologizing to them, face to face.

"No. I just can't face them after all that. But can you relay a message for me?"

The Old Man was intrigued. "And what would that be?"

"We...sort of made a wager before our bout and..."

"...And?" the geezer repeated.

"And since I won, I want them to find a new path to discovering their strengths," he firmly stated. The Old Man stared blankly at the boy for a moment, then let out a roar of laughter. Lee found it to be a little disturbing and a bit offensive.

"W-What's so funny?" he inquired.

"You're the most interesting ninja I have ever encountered!" the man shouted in amusement.

**Chapter 3: Blood Hounds**

At the crack of dawn, Lee packed up his bags and fitted into his sandals to leave for the city. He shouldered his belongings and approached the lone pillars when he felt something holding him back.

"Where do you think you're going?" the Old Man asked as he held on to the boy's sleeves.

"To the city," he replied.

"Ah, so you'll have no problem running an errand for me."

The Old Man's last comment caused Rock Lee to falter.

"W-why do I have to do such a thing?" Lee shouted angrily. He was still mad about the geezer laughing at his face when he stated his request the night before.

"Ah, originally, my grandkids were supposed to carry out this duty. But as you can see...They're in no condition to do anything."

Rock lee faltered again and collapsed under guilt.

"What do I have to do?" he gave up and asked. The Old Man brought out a scroll and unveiled a group picture.

"They're known as the Bloodhounds," he said, pointing to the group of vicious looking individuals. Lee gulped at the sight of the seemingly evil delinquents.

"They've been causing nothing but trouble for the folks back at the sea port city. They recognized my grandkids' talents and requested for their help, but now you're going to drive these punks away for them."

Rock Lee continued to stare at the pictures.

"Well, it's another chance to test out your strength, isn't it?" the Old Man asked in hopes of bring back the boy's confidence. Rock Lee back stepped, not being able to withstand the pressure of the geezer's question at first.

"Did you know that the 'Man of 1000 Jutsus' is still alive? If you go, I'll tell you more about him."

Rock Lee stood still and allowed this new piece of information to wash over him. His eyes flared and he seemed resolute.

"I'll do it!" the boy yelled at the top of his lungs. The Old Man mentally pat himself on the back for his talent for pushing all the right buttons at the right time.

"Good, good. Then I guess we'll leave immediately," the Old Man stated, dumping his own belongings on top of the boy. The boy was caught off guard and he collapsed under the weight of the old man's baggage.

-------------------------------------

The journey lasted them around 6 hours on foot. Being a professional ninja, Rock Lee was used to traveling for miles. But he usually traveled light and without having to carry an Old Man whenever he faked a fatigue. By the time they arrived at the city, he was dead tired.

"Look up, boy. We're here at Ichibawa City!" the geezer yelled out joyously. Rock Lee fell flat on his face and allowed his back to get a nice tan. His breathing was uneven and his pulse was abnormal. The Old Man crouched down and shook the boy with a worried look on his face.

"Hey, you alright?" he asked.

Then Lee caught the scent of fried octopus shishkabobs and immediately stood up, drooling all over his clothes. The Old Man smiled and took out his wallet.

"My treat, boy."

------------------------------

"So do you have any information, regarding these bandits?" Lee questioned the Old Man before biting into his morsel of food. The geezer sipped his glass of sake and took out another parchment along with their picture.

"Well, according to this, they are a group with no central leadership. A bunch of anarchists, apparently."

"How hypocritical. And they decided that they should run this city?" Lee asked.

"Not exactly run it. More like, they're here to destroy anything they deem annoying," the Old Man replied, helping himself to some octopus balls. He bit into one of them and squirmed as he chewed on the food and felt the sweetened juice explode in his mouth.

"Delicious! I could never get anything this good back in the mountains!" he yelled out in ecstasy. Lee slapped himself on the forehead.

"So, what about their battle stats?" he inquired, a bit embarrassed by the other customers glancing at the Old Man next to him.

"Battle stats? Well let's see..." the geezer referred back to the parchment.

"Hmmm...They basically beat down their competition in large numbers. Oh, they have one or two chunnin level fighters in the group, but they almost never participate in their usual brawls, so there's not much on them," he finished. The information didn't really tell Lee anything outside of what he already anticipated. He sighed and sat back on his chair.

"Now that I think about it, you sigh way too much for a kid your age. Not confident or what?" the geezer asked in a playful tone. Lee considered this in retrospect.

"I used to jump into things head on, believing that I could take on anything..." he said. He remembered his painful match against Gaara and how he wounded up taking a severe damage. If it wasn't for the Fifth Hokage, he wouldn't have been able to pursue his ninja dreams ever again.

"I just can't afford to make any mistakes again. That's why I have to take in as much information as I can on my opponents."

The Old Man sipped his sake and poured another glass. Then he slid it to the boy's side.

"Have a drink. It should relax you," he said. Rock Lee stared at the glass before him as if he was deathly afraid of the liquor.

"Um, I wouldn't dare. Bad things tend to happen when I drink even a sip of--"

"Hey! Bring me 50 pieces of pork dumplings right away!"

Both Rock Lee and the Old Man spun around in their seats to find a dozen men entering the tiny restaurant. Lee recognized some of their faces from the picture that he was shown before.

"The Bloodhounds," he whispered. The geezer nodded in confirmation. They both turned their backs and pretended to eat their food in silence.

"What do I do?" the boy asked, a bit flustered from the abrupt encounter. He picked up his glass and drank its content in one clean sweep.

"We still haven't met up with the mayor yet, so I don't know if it's wise to make our move now..." the man trailed off as he watched the boy's face grimace and turn bright red.

"Are you okay, kid?"

"I--er---hic!" he spat out. Rock Lee slammed the table and got up from his chair. He staggered across the restaurant and tumbled into the banquet room where the Blood Hounds were waiting for their food.

"K-kid!" the geezer shouted after him. The Blood Hounds all looked up at the young ninja swaying back and forth with no concept of balance.

"What the hell are you doing here, you fucking kid!" one of the man with slick hairdo yelled.

"Hic. W-what am I doing...here?" the boy repeated. Then he spun around involuntarily and kicked their table across the room. It hit the opposite wall with a thud and smashed into million pieces. The rest of the Blood Hounds looked quite shocked at the force of his kick and immediately became defensive.

"What the fuck? This kid is nuts!"

"Fuck him up!"

"Wait!" Lee screamed. "Before I do anything, um...what did Gai sensei tell me to do? Oh yeah! Warm up exercises!" he yelled out in epiphany. The Blood Hounds all looked at one another with a puzzled look.

"Grrr...Don't fuck around with us kid!" one of them yelled as he swung his fist. Immediately, Lee bent over to touch his toes, completely avoiding his preemptive attack.

"This one works out your trapezoids...Or was it the biceps, hic!" he muttered. Then he danced around their attacks while he performed successive jumping jacks. The Blood Hounds got annoyed at his drunken antics and threw frustrated punches at random patterns. Lee slipped past their hands and slammed them collectively on the jaws with his palm, completely shattering their jaw bones. They each fell down like flies at the boy's strength.

"Okay, I'm done with stretches, now...I sleep!" the boy yelled before falling down on the floor himself. The Old Man who had been watching this scene unfold from the distance was having a hard time closing his wide open jaws.

--------------------------------

The Old Man helped support the young ninja by lending him his brittle shoulder.

"You okay, kid? That was something good you showed me back there," the Old Man complimented. Rock Lee looked sick to the stomach and didn't bother with the geezer's comments.

"Are we there yet?" he asked, his voice wavering.

"Almost," the man replied.

They climbed the last flight of stairs and finally arrived at the mayor's office in the second floor of the city department. The Old Man placed the boy by the wall and tapped on the rich oak wood door.

"Come in," came the voice from within. The Old Man carried Lee back on his shoulder as he helped themselves into the office. The plump, yet pleasant looking mayor awaited them inside. He frowned at the sight of an elderly man supporting a drunken young boy.

"I tell you, Shinichi. Youth these days are a complete and utter waste," the Mayor said in a casual tone.

"Well...Not this one," answered the elder man. "It's been a while, hasn't it, Kobuki?"

"Yeah. And thought it was going to be a while longer before I meet you again. Didn't your kids decline the job before?" the Mayor questioned. At that instant, Rock Lee's eyes popped wide open.

"Hey, wait a minute! Your grandchildren declined the offer?" Rock Lee shot out coldly. "Then I've been guilt into this job for no reason!" he screamed. Shinichi let out a weak chuckle and smacked the boy on the back of his head.

"That's not important right now," he said. Then he turned back to the mayor.

"Kobuki. This kid is the real thing. He can solve your problem in no time!"

The Mayor looked over at the staggering kid, quite unimpressed.

"So, this is the kid that defeated a dozen Blood Hound members just now..." he whispered in disbelief.

"Your information network is awfully dependable, it seems," Shinichi said, admiring the administrative title.

"Are you sure this kid can handle it?" the stern Mayor stared back at his old friend. Shinichi looked definitive and quite sure of himself when he nodded at the question.

"Albeit the kid can't use any ninjutsus or genjutsus, his taijutsu is more than enough to completely shatter the Blood Hounds."

"A ninja that only possesses taijutsu. Is this a joke, Shinichi?!" the Mayor yelled.

"Now wait, just a minute, Kobuki! This kid--"

"That's enough," Rock Lee cut in.

"It won't be enough just trying to convince him with words. Nobody ever believed that I could ever be a great ninja with just physical abilities," the boy muttered as he recalled his childhood briefly.

"But what people do believe in, are actions. If I drive out these guys out of the town with my fist, once I do that, they'll start to believe in my ability as a ninja..."

With that, the leaf's proud azure beast let go of Shinichi's shoulder and stood on his own feet.

"I'll just have to show you exactly what I'm capable of with these fists of mine!" he shouted, extending his right fist into the mayor's vision. Both the geezer and the mayor stood still as they exchanged glances with one another. Then sighing, the mayor nodded his head in approval.

"Alright kid. Lend this city your talents."

_To be continued..._

**Author's Notes:** I seem to be having trouble writing past 10 pages per chapter now. I haven't updated in about 3 months, so this should satisfy my few readers, wouldn't it now...


	4. Counter Measures

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I probably never will. _

-----------------------

The Nadanchi Restaurant was left in a horrible mess. From outside, it looked quite normal, yet the interior was a work of blood shed. A dozen men laid still on the floor painted with their own blood. They all seemed to have their jaw bones shattered and neared critical conditions.

A young man stood among the pile of bodies, his hands resting within the pockets of his jet black tuxedo, which glistened slightly by the artificial lights. His long blond hair flowed behind him in a neat pony tail as he examined the scene before him through his black shades.

"This is rather annoying," he whispered. Two large men in plaid suits entered the building in a hurry.

"We've got some news, Soujiro!" one of the bulky man yelled.

"Spill it," Soujiro ordered, not taking his eyes off his fallen comrades.

"Well, we've asked a few eyewitnesses around the town. They say that a weird looking boy and an old geezer left the restaurant in a hurry after they heard some loud noises coming from here."

Soujiro took in the information calmly.

"Meaning that they were beaten by some kid and a senior citizen?" he asked.

The other two gulped and nodded slowly. Soujiro shook his head in disgust. He took out a pack of cigarette from his jacket and formed a single smoke. Then he rubbed his fingers together to ignite a fire and lit his cigarette.

"Either they're strong, or we're getting weaker."

The other two men winced as they listened.

"Well, which one is it?" the blond haired man pondered before taking a drag of his smoke.

**Chapter 4: Counter Measures**

In the third floor of a 4 star hotel building, Rock Lee and Old Man Shinichi took refuge within the confines of a luxurious VIP room.

"Really, I don't need much other than a futon…" Rock Lee said, not being able to deny the room before him. The Old Man wandered around and inspected every corner of the room on his own. Once he was done, he turned around and gave the boy a big thumbs up sign.

"It's a good room," he said. At that moment, Lee contemplated on getting a cheap room just to get away from him.

"Anyways, let's study the Blood Hound's base of operation right away," the Old Man suggested. He took out the city map from his sleeves, which he received from Kobuki earlier on.

"Um, before that, can I ask you how you came to befriend a mayor?" Lee asked. Ever since they left the office, he couldn't quite figure out how an old man like Shinichi can make such prestigious connections around the city when he's usually cooped up in the mountains.

"What, you mean Kobuki? Bah, I knew that old fool back when he was just a horrible ramen chef, my boy."

"I-is that so…"

Lee couldn't quite hide his disappointment. _'Of course, how else would he have gotten to know a man of such stature…' _he thought.

"He was always an ambitious chap. I was surprised when he actually ran for the office. And won," the Old Man continued.

Lee considered this for a moment and realized that it was quite an achievement for a ramen chef to leap into the position of a high ranking official.

"Though, he wasn't able to drive away the Blood Hounds on his own, that pathetic fool, uhahahah!"

Lee cringed at Shinichi's blunt outburst. However, he couldn't avoid the undeniable shred of truth in it.

"Anyways, if we're done rambling about the past, let's get into the meat of things," said Shinichi.

Lee nodded in agreement. Immediately, the man covered the floor with a map of the city and pointed to one of the small building structures that stood in the outskirts of the sea.

"This right here seems to be their main pad." Lee looked over the layout as Shinichi explained.

"These guys are usually roaming around the city at any given time, so attacking them directly won't serve much purpose… or so you would think at first."

" However, most of their experienced fighters usually reside within the building. We could look at this as 'chopping off their arms' if you're able to defeat them firsthand. They'll slowly disintegrate on their own, once their top fighters are down."

"So we're basically attacking the core," Lee whispered.

"Pretty much," Shinichi replied, continuing to examine the map.

"The problem is, there seem to be no other way to enter the building, but through the main entrance."

"Then we'll go through the main entrance," Rock Lee stated as if it were obvious.

"We could do that, but the entrance face this rocky hill over here, which renders it useless."

Lee checked the location of the entrance himself and found it to be odd.

"Weird architectural decision…" he thought out loud. Then his face showed a certain determination.

"Then I'll just have to build another entrance, won't I, old man?"

Shinichi chuckled at the implication.

"Why, you're not even _trying_to sneak in there undetected, you fool!" he shouted.

"But if it's you, I guess it could work."

-------------------------------

The city people peeked from their windows as a mass army of men in black suits roamed the streets, searching for a boy and an old man responsible for hurting their companions. They entered buildings without warrants and violated their privacy, sometimes even going so far as to destroy their living spaces. From the other side of the street, a small group of officers marched towards the gang. The head officer stepped up, his knees shaking violently, and took the initiatives to stop their activities.

"H-halt!" he ordered. Couple of Blood Hounds faced the officer and heed to his command.

"What do you want?" one of them spat out disgustedly. The officer gulped and tried his best to look calm.

"We've let your faction to do what ever you want, for far too long!" he screamed, not being able to believe that he had it in him afterwards. Smug looks spread all around the Blood Hounds as they stared at the officer.

"So what are you going to do about it?" one of them asked.

"We will stop you at all cost," the officer announced confidently.

"Yeah? You're gonna do that all by yourself?"

Puzzled, the officer looked around to see that all of his men have already fallen. His expression turned grim as cold beads of sweat formed on his forehead.

"So how shall we cook him?" the large man with broad shoulders asked his companions.

"Fucking kill him."

-------------------------------

The central department was heavily guarded in the odd hour of the night. In the brightly lit office in the second floor of the building, Kobuki sat in his cozy chair as he contemplated on his next move.

"Sir, the city officers have already been taken down," his advisor reported. Kobuki remained seated with his face hidden from view. The advisor hated to see the mayor behaving this way and stepped closer to his desk, coughing as he did so.

"Sir, with all due respect, I think your decision to bring in the outsiders to take care of our problem was a huge mistake. It might not be too late to turn them in and apologize. We were co-existing rather well in this city before this mishap," he said.

The mayor stirred from his chair. His cold eyes pierced through his advisor.

"Do you truly believe that? Do you really believe that we were better off before this incident?"

The advisor stood still, his head hung in shame.

"The Blood Hounds had us pressed under their thumb all this time, pushing us around like some common bullies!" he continued.

"Now our only hope is that boy…and Shinichi. That bastard will not let me down," Kobuki guaranteed as he reflected on his old friend.

Just then, there was a knock on his large wooden door. The advisor walked over to greet the guest and found himself flung across the room as the door smashed into the office room. The cool and collected Soujiro stood in the exit with his feet extended in the air. Kobuki tried to get up, but the blond ninja threw his kunai, strung in one end with a piano wire and tied down the mayor to his chair.

"Sup," he greeted. Kobuki gritted his teeth as he found himself in bondage. Soujiro walked over to the desk, glancing around the office on his way. He whistled in admiration.

"Nice place you got here…" he complimented.

"You're pushing it, Blood Hound!"

Soujiro grinned and slid his sunglasses off the bridge of his nose. His eyes were bright blue with a glint of intense flame burning within his pupils. He placed his shades in his breast pocket and snapped his fingers together to ignite a tiny flame between his thumbs.

"If you want to see that you end this term safely, old man, you'll tell me where I can find the boy and the geezer," he said. The mayor stared into the flame and felt completely mesmerized by its heat.

"I…th-they are currently resting in the Houshin Hotel," he blurted as if in trance. Soujiro smiled and snapped his finger again, causing the flame to vanish from his thumbs. In that instant, Kobuki's face hit the desk from all the exhaustion he experienced during the hypnotic session. Then the blond ninja performed a simple hand seal and gathered a large sum of fire in his right palm. Once he did so, he threw it out of his hands and watched the office burn slowly in front of him.

-----------------------------------

The Old Man snored peacefully on his side of the king size bed, while Rock Lee set up on the edge of his side and ran the plan in his mind in repetition. He felt that he can go at any moment and found it difficult to stop his body from tensing up. He shook in exhilaration and decided that he would try and drain away his excitement by performing some midnight exercises.

Getting up from the bed, he made sure not to stir Shinichi as he walked over to the door. He closed it behind him and walked around the hallway as me admired the expensive hotel rooms.

"Gee, we really didn't deserve something like this," he whispered. As he rounded the corner, he noticed a strange looking man in a large black overcoat. His face was covered with a gas mask and his white hair stood tall like a giant flickering flame. Lee pretended to not take notice of the man as he crossed path with him. Then turning around sharply, he saw him disappear behind the corner. Lee carefully traced his steps and watched the man lurk the hall.

"So you're Rock Lee."

Lee gasped as he felt the tip of his prey's kunai pressed against his neck. But as he calmed down, he had an overwhelming sense of familiarity.

"Ka-Kakashi sensei?" Rock Lee inquired softly. He felt the tip of the dagger draw away from his neck. He turned around and saw the copy ninja take off his gas mask to reveal his standard lethargic expression.

"These lame disguises don't fool anyone nowadays, do they?" the jounin sighed. Lee was taken back by his presence.

"What…What are you doing here?"

After discarding his mask, Kakashi scratched his head.

"Always to the point, both you and Gai," he whispered. The genin was quite happy at the mention of his favorite instructor's name.

"How is Gai sensei!?" he blurted. Kakashi glanced above his head in deep thought.

"He's been well, once he stopped crying after your departure. And as for your first question…the Leaf village had their eyes on this city for a long time now, inspecting the Blood-Hound's operation. We are only allowed to move if the help was inquired by the city itself, but they seemed content with their position. Since it was out of our own jurisdiction, we weren't able to take any form of actions, until a huge incident like this occurred."

Rock Lee gathered the information, but something still didn't make sense to him.

"But the incident only occurred yesterday. How is it that you were able to get here so fast?"

Kakashi flashed his rare smile.

"I was around, performing a mission very close to the harbor city. Pure coincidence."

Rock Lee smiled confidently, now that he knew he had all the help he needed to cleanse the city of the Blood hounds.

"Anyways, I've been informed that the mayor was murdered a few minutes ago by my confidente in this city."

Lee snapped out of his thoughts.

"What?"

Kakashi grimaced.

"More importantly, it's very urgent that we mobilize right away. The Blood hounds know where you are," he stated. Rock Lee was still absorbed by the news of the mayor's death.

"The mayor was…murdered?"

Kakashi looked down when he was reminded of his own student. At the very core of their souls, Lee and Naruto shared the exact sentiments.

"But…But the mayor was the old man's best friend…" Rock Lee whimpered. Kakashi stared at the young ninja and his eyes softened at the sight.

"The mayor wished for you to protect this city. Don't let him down now," the copy ninja firmly stated. Lee controlled his trembling and gripped his fists together.

"Don't worry. I won't."

----------------------------------------

On the outskirt of the sea, a small shinobi stood erect on a large boulder as the waves came crashing down on it. He remained standing, his long green hair draped around his well tanned face. He clutched his blue and white robe unconsciously as he tried to calm himself down.

"That damn boy will pay for disturbing us!" he shouted as another wave came crashing down on the coast line.

_To be continued…_

------------------------------------------

**Author's Notes:** The sudden appearance of Hayate Kakashi will stir some interest in some of you, I hope.


	5. Confrontation

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I never will._

--------------------------------------

A large sum of men hurried through the entirety of the Houshin hotel looking for any traces of the boy and the old man. They searched every room possible and frightened the temporary residents.

"They're not here anywhere, Soujiro," one of them man reported. Soujiro shifted uneasily as he pondered their exact whereabouts.

'The mayor couldn't have lied to me. It's not possible…' he thought. His hypnotic genjutsu was full proof and he was fairly confident in his ability. But the possibility of him being wrong caused his heart to pace and his mouth to clatter, making it impossible for him to hold on to his cigarette with his lips. Soujiro faced the large frame of glass that stretched across the wall and noticed his appearance. He immediately calmed himself down and threw down his smoke.

"They're in hiding obviously. Search harder," he ordered.

Just then he heard the windows smash and had barely dodged the barrage of kunais and shurikens thrown from outside the building. He watched his comrades fall like flies at the projectile weapons and grinned, finally being able to pin point his targets. He performed the tiger seal and stood up abruptly to deliver his stream of fire outside the broken window. Once the smoke cleared away, he was unable to find any trace of his enemies.

"What the hell…" he whispered. He looked behind him on the opposite side and noticed that few of the kunais that were nailed to the wall were strung with piano wires in the end. Then he came to a realization that his enemies have used a large quantity of weapons to mask one kunai per person to hold on to once they have successfully performed their sneak attack. He looked down the building and saw two bodies climbing up the walls by the piano wires.

"The boy and the geezer," he muttered. He gathered his hands and collected a large sum of chakra which quickly transformed into a mass of concentrated flame. Then he threw it down like a bowling ball and torched the two helpless bodies. As soon as they were caught by his fire, they transformed into two planks and fell back into the empty street.

"Shit!" he yelled, unable to bear the frustration.

"Where the hell are they?"

-------------------------------------------

**Chapter 5: Confrontation**

Kakashi, Rock Lee and the old man dusted their clothes as they glanced around their premise.

"That was a great tactic, Kakashi-san!" Rock Lee exclaimed. The Jounin did not allow himself to be swept up by the compliment and began to plan their next attack.

"We're two floors underneath him and the rest have gone upstairs to gaze at the injured bodies like mindless fools. It'll be a bit easier than I thought," the white haired ninja commented. He adjusted his head band and made sure it covered his left eye as he slowly advanced to the next flight of stairs. The two followed his lead and started to climb up after him.

"So what are we going to do next?" the boy questioned his superior. Kakashi hummed and took out a scroll from within his vest pocket. He cut open his left thumb and smeared his blood across the passage written on the scroll and gathered his hands together to garner a large amount of chakra.

"We're going to hunt them down."

--------------------------------------------------

The rest of the Blood hounds gathered on the 5th floor and watched their comrades writhing in pain, sprawled across the entire hall. Soujiro leaned against the wall dejectedly as he had never been outsmarted by others in his life.

"I will kill them," he shuddered as he spoke. Then all of a sudden, there came a group of loud growling noises from both ends of the hall way. The fire enthusiast slowly turned his head and watched the shadows grow bigger and bigger as it advanced on them. He saw the clear shape of blood hounds painted across the wall in black. He shivered at the irony and steadied himself for another battle. His comrades all but slowly back away from the corners and gathered at the center of the hall, stumbling as they did so.

"W-what do we do now?" one of them asked. The hounds slowly showed up one by one, their snarling faces causing the Blood hounds to curl in fear. Soujiro prepared his attack and sent out a giant wave of flame to one side of the hall. He sensed the hounds from the opposite side running towards them and performed a flame barrier jutsu to protect himself and his group. The rest of the Bloodhounds gained some confidence from Soujiro's skills and took out their favored weapon to battle along side him. However, the hounds were too quick and smart and began to scale the walls in spiral. They leaped at the humans and tore into their respective flesh. The chunnin watched his friends being carved into chunks of disfigured meat and gulped. He spread his fire even further, his mind set on keeping them away from him other than trying to battle them. To his misfortune, the hounds were able to penetrate through his defense and attack him. Soujiro knocked the dogs away with his taijutsu and continued to pummel them away from him. After a certain amount of time, the dogs began to tire out and disappear into puff of smoke.

He took this chance to gather his breath. Once he regained his composure, he realized that he was the only one standing. The rest of his group were either unconscious or had been turned into a work of snuff. He nearly vomited at the sight.

"Okay…I had enough of this already. Get out here right now, you damn bastards!" he cried.

"As you wish."

Kakashi appeared from the corner and stood against the wall as he whistled in admiration.

"My dogs were especially vicious today it seems," he stated, glancing at the number of bodies on the floor. Soujiro's eyes twitched involuntarily.

"Well, this is unexpected," the Bloodhound thought out loud.

"Who knew the infamous Copy Ninja would make an appearance in our town?"

Kakashi smiled at the remark.

"Your town?" the white haired Jounin repeated. He pocketed his hands and began to walk towards the chunnin. The young ninja gazed at the advancing adversary and tried to hold his own against him.

"You haven't contributed a single thing to this lovely town and you call it your own?" Kakashi inquired once he was only a feet away from him.

"A low life like you have no place in society. Get lost, before I kill you," the Copy ninja threatened, his eyes glazed with animosity. Soujiro shuddered in disgust at his lack of power, then became confused when his enemy's demeanor changed in split second.

"Normally, that's what I'd say, but alas, I am not your opponent today," added Kakashi, his eyes arced in what appeared to be his happy face.

He stepped away from Soujiro and Rock Lee busted through the ventilation on top of him. As soon as Lee landed on the floor, he swept underneath his prey with a lightning fast kick. The fire ninja was caught by his surprise attack and fell to floor along with his comrades. The azure beast took this chance to fly on top of him and land on his stomach with his elbow. The Bloodhound gasped and spat blood. He drew away from the boy and nurtured his abdominal pain.

"You!" he shouted, recognizing him as the boy who defeated his friends earlier. Rock Lee smiled as he side stepped and flicked his nose with his thumb in an all-so-familiar fashion.

"You're the one who hurt my friends!" accused the fire ninja.

"And you killed the mayor…" Lee countered, his eyes blazing with hatred. Soujiro gritted his teeth and performed a hand seal. Once he was done, his body multiplied into dozen copies of himself.

"So you've come for revenge as well…" the chunnin whispered. Rock Lee chuckled at his insinuation.

"No, I've come to extinguish the fire that's been burning for far too long…"

All the copies of the fire ninja crinkled their nose in disgust and dashed across the hall directly towards the boy in green outfit. The genin jumped upward, planted his feet on the ceiling and began to dash across towards the opposite side. As he did so, he threw his remaining supply of kunais at the copies and watched them turn into black smokes on impact. Then Rock Lee jumped back down towards one of the copies and jabbed him on his face. The boy back stepped and felt the stinging pain of fire on his fist.

"Damn, what the hell is this?" Lee wondered out loud.

Kakashi supplied him with an answer as he continued to watch the match.

"Elemental copy technique. In this case, fire. You'll feel the pain even when you destroy the copies."

Lee avoided their attacks and performed a spinning leaf kick. He succeeded in destroying the copies, but it left him with a burning sensation on his feet.

"Is there any other way to defeat them!?" he asked. Kakashi stared at the ceiling and hummed.

"There's no other way! This is where you'll die now!" the Bloodhound copies all shouted in unison as they continued their attack.

"Actually…You set up a perfect trap for yourself…" the jounin replied, continuing to stare at the ceiling. Lee didn't understand and looked at the ceiling as well. Immediately, he felt a tiny sprinkle of water on his face. Then it began to pour inside the hallway and the fire copies began to transform into steam.

"You see…Your fire play up to now has set up the smoke detectors, which automatically triggers the water sprinklers. Someone's gotta complain about the reliability of these gadgets, concerning the time it takes for it to respond though…" Kakashi pitied.

Lee took this chance to appear behind the real Soujiro and locked him in a sleeper hold. He held onto his left hand and spun him around to face him head on. Then he snuck under the chunnin's left arm and held him in his hands to prepare his final attack.

"Here it comes, the Rock Suplex!" he yelled, twisting his body backwards to pin his opponent on his head. Lee's finale turned out to be quite effective as Soujiro found his consciousness slowly slipping away from him.

"D…Damn you…" he muttered, before closing his eyes. Lee let go of him and watched him flop on the floor. He examined his own damage and found parts of his bodies to be charred. The jounin crouched near the injured body of Soujiro and painted a small symbol on his forehead with an ink brush. He then performed a complicated set of seals and pressed his palm against his head and watched the symbols linger and engrave itself permanently on him.

"What did you do, Kakashi-san?" the boy asked.

"I made it hard for him to channel his chakra. He won't be needing them in prison after all."

Lee nodded and stood back on his feet. He turned around to walk back and meet the old man who was waiting for them on the bottom level when he heard Kakashi cough. Lee turned around and caught a glimpse of the jounin giving him the thumbs up.

"Good job, Lee. I'll be sure to report your progress to Gai," he said.

Lee forgot about his injuries at that moment. He could not help but crack a genuine smile.

-------------------------------------

Old man Shinichi stood up to greet Rock Lee when he saw him limp towards him.

"You look like shit," he said upon examination. Lee pouted his lips and tightened the bandage around his fists. Kakashi walked behind him and glanced at the Old man.

"It was a difficult battle, give him some break," the white haired man pointed.

"I don't doubt it. But he took too much damage and we still got one more to go."

Shinichi whisked his beard and gestured for them to move on.

"If you're done kid, we need to move fast."

Kakashi supported the boy and they both walked out of the building. They were greeted by the crowd who were previously abused by the Bloodhounds.

"You guys are great! You guys managed to defeat them all so swiftly!"

"Amazing! Thank you guys for helping us out!"

"You guys are truly the angels sent from the heavens!"

The trio brushed past the mob of people and continued to walk down the street, leaving the city folks cheering for them from behind. Lee smiled shyly, still lingering on the encouraging words of the people.

"That's your reward for saving the city. Cherish them, though they might not seem much," the senior ninja commented quietly. Rock Lee thought about this.

"No, they're enough for me to keep going on," Lee replied. Both Shinichi and Kakashi smiled to themselves at his response. Looking ahead, the trio saw a short kid in heavy robes slowly walking towards them.

"Another fan?" Shinichi asked sarcastically.

"I'll handle this…" the jounin whispered as he took charge of them.

"This is good. He saved us the trouble of going all the way to him," Shinichi commented.

"Wait! I can go on!" cried Lee. Kakashi sighed and turned around.

"You're in no condition to battle another chunnin," he reminded him. Lee gulped and stepped back, fully understanding his words. The renown copy ninja of Konoha advanced towards the new enemy. The last of the Bloodhounds stood quietly with anticipation and annoyance.

"Step aside," the boy ordered. Kakashi stood still, looking down at the shortest member of the Bloodhounds.

"You must be some kid to be allowed into a group like the Bloodhounds."

"I have no business with you," the boy said looking ahead at Rock Lee.

"Sorry, but I'm not a person you can brush off so easily."

The boy shot a cold look at the man before him. Kakashi merely smiled.

"If you want the kid so badly, then go through me first."

They stared at one another and the tiny Bloodhound watched the jounin's demeanor change into that of a cold one.

"After all…I did kill a pal of yours…" he stated. The boy in heavy robes shot a questioning glance at him.

"Soujiro…Was it?" Kakashi inquired, toying with the boy's psyche. It proved to be effective as he watched the boy's emotions flourish.

"You piece of…shit!" the boy yelled, holding out his right arm. From within his sleeves, Kakashi watched a geyser like water erupt and flow towards him. He ducked underneath the massive water and threw a smoke bomb near the boy. It exploded by his feet and smoke began to rise, covering his peripheral vision. The jounin took that chance to perform the shadow replication technique. He allowed his copies to go into offensive, but watched them all get washed away into nothing by a gigantic cyclone.

"How is it that he's able to perform water related techniques when he's no where near the required supply?" Kakashi pondered. Just then, he found himself being pounded head on by a gigantic embodiment of a fist made of pure liquid. The white haired ninja withstood the attack and held up the gigantic artificial fist. He grunted as he shoved away the attack and leaped to a safe spot. The boy showed no mercy as he used both of his hands to create the gigantic water fists and continued to pound the after images of the lightning fast Kakashi.

"Die already fucker!" the boy screamed. The copy ninja rolled away from the boy's last attack and climbed up the medical department. He launched himself from mid way and fell on top of the boy. He gripped both of his arms and threw him down like a dirty piece of rug. The water ninja recovered immediately and created a gigantic wave to sweep away his enemy. Both Rock Lee and the old man fled away from the battle ground as the wave covered the entire street. Kakashi stood his ground and took off the headband off his left eye.

The boy watched the entire street get engulfed by his technique and cried out in triumph.

"You were no match for me, you fucking piece of shit. I'm surprised you were able to defeat my friend in your level," he said to no one in particular. Just then he felt his ankles being pulled from underneath.

"What the…?"

He saw a pair of hands gripping his ankles and felt himself being pulled within the ground. When he was neck deep inside dirt, Kakashi erupted from the ground and knelt near the helpless head.

"Ready to give up?"

"Don't get cocky already," the boy warned him.

"There are still some stuff I can do even when I'm neck deep in shit."

The water ninja opened his mouth and washed away his enemy with the force of a hydro pump. The jounin flew straight into the fish market and crash landed into the stacked crates. Fortunately for him, he was able to break his fall thanks to a couple hundred carcasses of fish.

"I didn't anticipate that, not even with my sharingan" Kakashi muttered painfully, watching his enemy rise back to ground level.

"I guess I'll test it out today then," he added, rising back for another round.

They dashed towards one another and clashed at mid point with their kunais. The white haired ninja pushed him away and kicked up dust to blind the squirt. The boy covered his eyes with his sleeves and Kakashi took that chance to tore his clothes with his kunai. He watched packages of water fall to the dirt and the boy frantically trying to cover them.

"So that's where you get your healthy supply of water…What's more impressive, you're able to increase the amount with just your chakra," the jounin stated, quite amused by his opponent's ability. The water enthusiast glared at the white haired ninja. He performed a quick hand seal and created a gigantic ball of water and imprisoned himself within them. Once he was inside, he was able to create a pair of limbs on the outer shell of his water sphere.

"My ultimate offense AND defense combined together. How do you like that, you dimwit ninja!" the water ninja cried. Kakashi whistled in amusement as he crossed his arms.

"Quite impressive," he replied with a thumbs up. It angered the boy even further and he pursued his rampage. He began to pummel the buildings and the ground with his artificial limbs, trying to break every bone in the copy ninja's body. Kakashi cart wheeled around the large water sphere and avoided his attacks with ease.

"That's pretty much it for the extent of your offense. Now it's time to test your defense," he shouted loud enough for the boy to hear him. Kakashi continued to dodge the water limbs as he stretched out his body, feelings his muscles being cramped up a bit. Once he was done, he gathered large sum of chakra into both his palms. Lee and Shinichi watched the battle unfold from behind the medical building.

"What's he doing?" the old man asked.

"That's…the Chidori, but something's different about it. I watched Sasuke use it once, but the strength is on a completely different level and it's not just because he's a jounin either."

Rock Lee continued to examine Kakashi as his fists began to glow.

"This is what I call the Dual Chidori!" he yelled as both of his fists sparked into life. The water ninja watched in awe as two large amount of static chakra became visible in both of his palms. Kakashi held them behind him as he ran towards the water sphere. The boy panicked and began to back paddle on his technique to avoid the strange attack that he's never seen before.

"Get…Get the hell away from me the boy yelled. The Copy ninja leaped into the air and struck both of his hands into the water. Since the depth of the sphere was much larger than he assumed, he was unable to penetrate it deep enough. Believing that the worst has finally passed, the boy mustered his courage and began to laugh at his enemy.

"That was some useless technique you got there! It can't even pierce through my defen-"

Just then, he watched the spark of Kakashi's attack spread around the sphere and approach the core where he stood.

"Sorry, kid. But my technique is quite similar to a massive electric jolt. And if you know your science, water conducts electricity."

The jounin watched the boy fry from within the confines of his own technique and brought back his fist outside the ball. He landed back on his feet and watched the gigantic mass of water disappear on its own. The boy remained on the floor, knocked out by the man's artificial voltage.

Without turning around, the jounin addressed Rock Lee.

"Lee, take this as another lesson. You maybe gifted with taijutsu, but you must work harder than anyone else to keep up with them. Otherwise, you'll fall behind a great deal."

Lee gulped, not being able to clear his head of the image of Hatake Kakashi and his Dual Chidori technique.

_To be continued…_

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**Author's Notes:** The previous two chapters were a set up for the healthy heaping of action I was about to present for this chapter. Well, another chapter has gone, but I'm not finished yet. I've got tons of things planned for Rock Lee so be sure to keep an eye on this fan fiction.


	6. The Challenge

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I probably never will. _

**Author's Notes:** I've been pretty busy so I wasn't able to shell out a few chapters. Hopefully, this chapter will satisfy what little following I have garnered so far.

Enjoy.

* * *

The mayor's burial was surprisingly plain, but many of the city folks have come out to grieve over his ground along with majority of the city officials. Many have made speeches and even Old Man Shinichi took the stand to deliver a eulogy for his dear old friend. Kakashi stood near Rock Lee while they listened to the old man reminisce about his past. The Jounin had other things he needed to attend to, but decided to stay another day or so to provide emotional support to the young ninja. 

"Death is a part of life. It's an overused expression, but nonetheless, it's true," he stated, while watching the Old Man make a fool out of himself, totally disregarding all tact.

"I know," answered Rock Lee as he looked at his sandals.

"But some people die from natural causes. I think the mayor deserved the same fate," the young ninja added. Kakashi lifted his right hand and placed it on the azure beast's left shoulder. He gave it a soft squeeze as a gesture of support and comfort.

"Maybe…it was his fate to die in their hands."

The white haired ninja spoke calmly, but audible enough that his voice wasn't drowned away by the sobbing of a group of city people.

"It was a death with no regret. He did everything he can to protect the city and this is their show of gratitude."

Rock Lee understood the words of his superior, but his heart wouldn't allow him the leisure, believing that maybe there was a possibility that the mayor could've been saved.

Sensing that the boy's grief wasn't going to disappear any time soon, Kakashi stooped to the boy's level to let him in on a secret that he stumbled upon. The boy listened to the man whispering into his ear briefly before he shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Are you serious, Kakashi-sensei?" the boy yelled loud enough for the others to glance back at him.

"Not so loud, Lee," Kakashi tried desperately to calm him down, but found it to be futile. The thick browed boy was already on his way, shuffling through the crowd and heading towards the podium standing at the tiny stage set near the mayor's grave. Old Man Shinichi watched the boy approach the stage and was quite annoyed by the way he was disrupting his speech.

"Just what the hell do you think you're doing boy!" the brittle man screamed into the microphone. Rock Lee climbed up on the stage, huffing and puffing, and pointed a finger towards the old man.

"Shinichi of the 1000 Jutsus!" he yelled.

"I challenge you to a fight!"

Everybody gasped at the sudden announcement of the boy. The old man simply slapped his own forehead in disgust.

"What? Like, right now?"

**Chapter 6: The Challenge**

Everyone kept quiet as the two opposing fighters continued to glare at each other in the middle of the clear town. The Old man was in the process of performing some kinesthetic to warm up his body while Rock Lee unwrapped and tightened the bandages around his arms. Kakashi was in a hurry, but he was dying to watch the match of two generations unfold before him.

The Old Man performed some jumping jacks and cracked his neck, causing the crowd to shudder from the creepy noise equivalent to that of a creaky door.

"I was hoping to hide my true identity, but word gets around, don't it?" he yelled while staring directly at the white haired Jounin responsible for uncovering the truth. Kakashi quickly looked away and began to hum a familiar tune while pretending to read his favorite book.

"Well, I was bound to find out since you promised me to tell me where the Man of 1000 Jutsus resided after this task, am I right?" the young boy spat out while stretching his legs.

"Heh, I was gonna keep it a secret anyways! It's for your own good you know? I did use to be a notorious Anbu leader," Shinichi countered. Rock Lee gritted his teeth upon hearing that remark.

"You were an Anbu leader. But that was ages ago. You probably rusted over already and can't even grasp the full potential of your chakra," Rock Lee stated, smirking afterwards when he caught a glimpse of the old man wincing at his words.

"This coming from a kid who can't even use simple ninjutsus…" the Old Man muttered, finally revealing his valuable hand. This elicited a nice response from Rock Lee.

"You take that back!" he fumed as he pointed his finger defiantly towards his opponent, no longer feeling the need to make a witty remark. The Old Man began to laugh profusely at the boy.

"So it does hurt, don't it?" the older man shouted while pouting his lips as if to feign sympathy.

"Shut up!" the young ninja ordered as he found himself not being able to enforce it in any other way. The Old Man held his sides and continued to laugh himself silly, which only frustrated Lee even further. So the boy stomped the ground and held one arm behind his back. He waved the other hand in front of him in his default battle stance, tempting the old man to come and greet him. This caught Shinichi's attention and his eyes became serious.

"Enough talks, old man. This was my sole intention of having come here in the first place," he began.

"Don't disappoint me."

Shinichi flexed his arms and grinned at the boy's words.

"I'm not gonna go easy on you, kid," the man cautioned. This time, Lee grinned back.

"I don't expect you to…" he said.

* * *

A traveler in old raggedy clothes, who seemed to be in poor health, came to a halt when he spotted the city by the port. He gleamed and kissed the ground, thanking the God for his good fortune. He took off his large straw hat and gazed at the magnificent gate when all of a sudden, he heard strange noises emitting from within the city. Puzzled, he walked in and saw the city people lined across the building, while clearing away from the main passage ways. Then in the middle of the streets, he saw two lightning fast individuals who seemed to be involved in a serious combat. 

"An old man…and a boy?" the man whispered. Having known for his keen eye sight, he was able to spot the two combatants easily, but he felt doubtful of his vision at the time. He couldn't possibly believe that there was a fight going on between a senior member of society and a young kid. Not only that, but they both fought at a professional level.

"What the hell is going on here?" he wondered out loud. Then without another word, he tried to mangle into the crowd to get a better view of the fight and perhaps, ask someone of the origin of this spectacular event.

* * *

Rock Lee landed on his feet and caught the old man's oncoming fist with his own. They both stepped away from each other and performed a spinning back kick each, which slightly grazed against their thighs. Shinichi brought back his feet and kicked back with the other one, hoping to catch the young ninja's face, but Lee dodged underneath and pulled his leg against him. Then he grabbed on to his shirt and threw him towards a shopping district, but he was one step ahead of him. On impact, the old man's body turned into that of a large tree stump and damaged a fruit cart. 

"Damn it, enough of that already!" Lee shouted while his eyes darted around the perimeter to see from where Shinichi might approach. On the roof top of a hotel, the old man performed the proper hand seals for his long range attack. The azure beast barely dodged the stream of mud erupting from the senior ninja's mouth. Then the old man began to spit out small amounts of mud periodically to try and hit the ninja who was now moving at a faster rate.

"You're not going to get me with that," Rock Lee stated confidently as he leaped into the air.

"Oh? Then how about this one?" Shinichi crouched and slammed the roof with his palms, turning the surface into that of a mud like state. With the mud he created, he began to sculpt giant soldiers at lightning fast speed. Like that, he built four Mud Golems to do his bidding before the young ninja landed on the same roof top.

"When I was younger, I was able to make 8 of these, but age does take its toll, don't it?" the Old Man commented as he stepped back to admire his creations. Lee stared into the empty faces of these giant mud soldiers and was unable to contain his excitement.

"Ohhh! Neat trick!" he complimented. "Let's see how they do in a real fight!"

The Old Man chuckled and sat cross legged on the roof. Then he began to perform hand seals after hand seals to command his soldiers. Soon, the golems began to move slowly, but their speed steadily increased as they approached their target. Without hesitation, Lee dashed across the tiles and punctured the chest of one of the soldiers with his fist. Then he felt as if his fist was sinking deeper by the second. He tried to pull away, but found it to be useless. The surrounding mud had thickened around his arm and it pulled him even closer to the giant golem.

"Damn," grunted the Genin, lifting both of his feet and placing it across the soldier's chest to help himself pull away from the creature. As he placed effort into this, the three other soldiers surrounded him from all sides. One of them hammer fisted the young boy and he dangled in mid air, with his fist still stuck to the creature's abdomen. Angry, the boy began to peddle his way towards the other soldiers while dragging the one stuck to his fist. He eventually lifted it and carried it on his shoulder while he confronted the golems.

"Die, you bastards!" he hollered while swinging the Golem on his fist towards the other soldiers. He successfully hammered them away and used the same Golem to shield their counter attacks.

"Very resourceful, kid," the old man complimented. He ordered the Golem to let go of the boy's hand with a single hand seal.

"Then let's see how you fight off my Golems after I give them a few upgrade…"

As Shinichi continued to perform his ninjutsus, the creatures' bodies all began to harden into that of metal substances and took shapes of Buddhist statues. Then from the roof top arose four charcoal black swords, which each creature carried in their hands.

"Formation Tiger Junction!" the old man yelled. Confused, Rock Lee carefully observed the Golems spread out in two groups. Then they began to spin like tops while lashing out with their swords. Lee back flipped from his position and leaped over their attacks. He continued to run away from the impending decapitation and tried his best to contain his scream. He came over to the edge of the roof top and jumped over to the next building and turned back to give the old man the raspberry.

"Hah! They're too heavy to jump over, old man!" he yelled out in triumph. Then his smile quickly disappeared from his face when he watched the Golems jump over the ledge and onto the building he currently occupied.

"Formation Blood Rain!" the old man commanded. The Golems all began to jump up and down while crushing the roof with their swords. Lee side stepped from a fatal blow and held onto the closest Golem before he could jump again. Then using the momentum of the creature, he spun him around and sent him flying towards Shinichi on the other building.

But before he could reach him, one of the other Golem intercepted the air borne creature and brought it back down on the rooftop. Lee's face expressed frustration.

"Hey, Shinichi-san! Don't you think it's bad for the people if we kept demolishing their finally liberated city like this?" Lee asked with hopeful look in his eyes.

"Hah! This city needs to be rebuilt again anyways after the one two round it received from the Bloodhounds. So you stop worrying about that! I'm not calling off my creatures any time soon!" he answered.

'Well, how do I fight them now?' Lee wondered as he watched the metallic creatures approach him once again. He bent underneath the slash of the first creature and rolled away through his legs. Then Lee sprung up with his arms and back kicked the creature towards the oncoming second soldier. He sidestepped from the third Golem, coming from the opposite side and unleashed his spinning leaf kick to knock him down. Afterwards, he quickly caught the face of the fourth one sneaking behind him with a round house kick.

Lee back stepped away from the fallen creatures and rubbed his sore feet.

"Damn! My attacks connected well, but I'm also taking damage from having to attack their hard bodies…" he complained. He got up on his feet to observe his situation.

"So far, all I know is that they're being controlled by the Old Man's chakra," Lee thought out loud. He scratched his chin and tried to come up with ways to bring down the soldiers.

"Time to finish this! Formation Iron Giant!" the Old Man yelled, causing Lee to lose his train of thought. The Iron Golems all locked their arms together and began to meld into one giant embodiment of their smaller counterparts. It stood large and brought down the entire building once its shape was completed. Lee jumped onto the next closest building before he was caught in the demolition and gasped in horror.

"Th-That looks like…Shinichi!" he screamed. The iron giant was indeed a larger, metallic version of the person in charge of the creature. The creature looked back at the young ninja and struck a pose, before his hip let out and the creature pretended to moan in pain. The city folks all looked at the creature in utter awe, not paying any attention to the current status of their homes. The Iron Giant stood in triumph and let out a loud roar, similar to that of Godzilla.

"Y-you're kidding me!" Lee shouted.

"Nope, I'm not!"

Lee looked over and saw that the old man was now standing on the head of his own creation.

"Wha-what are you doing on top of that thing!" Lee asked, a bit baffled by the entire affair.

"Heh. A creature of this size requires me to control it from a closer distance. Also my Iron Giant acts as an amplifier of my power…" the old man replied.

"What do you mean?" Lee spat out.

"Oh, you'll see…Starting now."

The old man struck the tiger seal and began to spit out a stream of fire from his mouth. Then the metallic giant did the same and caused a huge wave of flame to fly towards Lee's direction.

"Oh shit," Lee whispered before jumping out of its way. But before he can jump onto another building, he was caught by the large hand of the iron giant. Lee struggled to escape from its grasp, but the creature squeezed him harder every time he tried. The azure beast screamed in pain as he could feel his rib cage being enclosed together.

"I told you I wasn't gonna go easy on you kid," the old man reminded him. Then he threw him up in the air and delivered a huge blow to the boy's body with the metallic fist. Lee was sent flying through several buildings, causing them to fall after another in a domino effect. The creature walked towards the debris and picked up the tiny body from the rummage of the buildings.

"Pathetic. You throw a challenge in my face and expected to get an easy win?"

The boy remained quiet as he was being held up by the giant's fingers.

"You were able to defeat my granddaughters, but it's 100 years too early for you to even try and challenge me kid," he continued to taunt the young boy.

"Face it, you're done."

The boy stirred in the giant's finger.

"Am I…really?" Lee asked himself. Then his face showed a sign of determination.

"I wasn't going to use it, but I see no other way. Prepare yourself, old man!" Lee shouted defiantly and with a glint of hope. This caused the Old Man to scrunch up his nose.

"So you still had a trick up your sleeves, kid?" he inquired. The boy merely smiled and pushed himself away from the creature's hold. As he began to free fall, he summoned all of his chakra and activated as many of the Heavenly Gates as he possibly can. The wave of chakra that he unleashed caused the atmosphere around him to grow thick and caused his body to ablaze with the large flickering shape of chakra flame. The veins on his face all grew thick and visible while all color drained out of it and turned red. The boy yelled out in pain of having to keep the concentrated chakra all in his body. The old man watched in surprise when he recognized the technique.

"Maybe 5? No…he opened 6 Heavenly Gates in his age…" Shinichi muttered.

"This is troublesome."

As soon as Lee landed on the ground, he propelled himself towards the creature's left foot and zoomed across the city passage like a rocket.

"All materials, including this creature, has a breaking point where the supply of chakra is insufficient compared to the other parts!" Lee yelled.

"And I'm going to find it!"

Rock Lee twirled around the creature's foundation and began to pummel every square inch of the metallic surface. He scaled the Iron Giant as he continued to deliver death blows across the creature's body, causing loud hollow noises to emanate rhythmically. The old man panicked and tried to act quick, but the pressure Lee presented caused him to fumble. Lee then drilled into the monster's body with his fist through the left side of its pelvis and watched it slowly crumble. He then entered the hole he created and began to demolish the creature from within.

"Shit!" the Old man yelled. Seeing as there was no hope to save his soldier, he let go of his chakra control over it and quickly escaped. As he began to descend on a nearby building, he felt his body being constricted. Then he noticed the large roll of bandage being wrapped around his body, leaving him in a bondage. Tied to the other end of the bandage was the boy in rampage, determined to bring down Shinichi.

"Final Lotus!" Lee yelled, grabbing hold of the Old Man's body. Then they both began to spin rapidly towards the ground. Shinichi's gritted his teeth as he prepared himself for the impact.

* * *

The traveler had been watching the battle unfold for sometime and had been bothered by the anonymity of the young fighter. Then he spotted another individual seeming to follow the fight very closely and decided to approach him.

"Um, excuse me, but…Might I ask who that boy is?" the dirty traveler asked the tranquil white haired ninja. Kakashi gave him a side glance then continued to watch the boy twirl in mid-air.

"A genius of hard work," he replied.

Not quite understanding his words, the traveler decided to watch the finale of this fantastic battle.

* * *

As the dust cleared away, Rock Lee found himself still standing on his feet. The color in his face became normal again, but he was extremely exhausted from having used nearly all of his strength.

"Is it…over?" he whispered. Just then from out of the dust, the Old Man leaped and delivered a drop kick to Lee's chest that sent the young ninja flying across the city. He skipped on the ground and slid to a halt near a fountain.

"Damn it Old Man, are you made out of steel?" Lee inquired while spitting blood. Shinichi stood his ground and gasped desperately for air.

"How did you escape my attack?" Lee asked, getting back on his feet. Shinichi continued to gasp as he walked slowly towards the Genin.

"I didn't," the Old Man answered. Upon hearing this, the young ninja smiled weakly.

"You sure are tough for your age."

"So are you…" muttered the Old Man. "Tell me…Why do you always seem to push yourself so hard?"

Rock Lee nursed his left arm and looked up to the sky. Then he bit his lips from the overflowing memory of his favorite instructor.

"My sensei taught me to always wager on my battles, so it would give me an incentive to win," the azure beast answered. Shinichi lifted one eyebrow in thought.

"And what exactly did you wager?" the Old Man continued. Lee paused for a moment, then grinned at the weakened old man before him.

"My current quest to become stronger," he replied. The Old Man nodded his head in understanding. Then he put up his sleeves and cracked his neck.

"I've got about one good punch left in me. How about we cross fist one last time to decide the victor?" Shinichi asked. "I'll even wager something on this fight."

Lee smiled and resumed his battle stance.

"Bring it…"

As soon as Lee agreed to his terms, they both accelerated towards one another. Shinichi threw his last punch towards the boy's tired face, but it didn't connect. Then all of a sudden, the young boy appeared behind the retired ninja.

'A feint?' Shinichi thought, his eyes wide with fear.

"Take this old man! Thousand years of pain!"

Before the attack was completed, the White haired Jounin who was watching from the sideline slapped his forehead in shame and disgust at the finale of the battle.

_To be continued…_

_

* * *

_

**Author's Notes: **Wow. It's been a long time since I released a chapter. And again, I don't have much to say except…I was very delighted to watch episode 124.


	7. Onward Towards the Tournament

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I probably never will. _

Author's Notes: This chapter is slightly inspired by the earlier chapters of Hunter X Hunter manga, which is another excellent title that you guys should look into.

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Shinichi slowly stirred from his designated bed. Upon opening his eyes, all he could see was the creamy white ceiling, a scenery he's not very used to. He blinked his eyes couple of times to adjust them to the bright light that poured from the window beside his mattress. When he was finally conscious again, it only took him a second to figure out where he was.

"The hospital…" he whispered, eyeing the IV standing next to his bed.

He rolled his head to his side and caught a glimpse of something that caused him to frown.

"What are _you_ doing here?"

Rock Lee stared back at the old man from his own bed with a faint smile on his face. Then he lifted his left hand and gave him a shaky thumbs up sign.

"I'm your room buddy," he announced happily. The Old Man furrowed his eyebrows in discontent. Then he grunted and rolled to his side again to avoid the boy.

"Oh come on, you're not mad at me still, are you?" Lee inquired playfully.

Just then, the door to their room opened and the white haired Jounin peered through the crack. Lee turned his attention away from the old man and smiled at Kakashi.

"Yo," the copy ninja greeted. Then he opened the door wider to reveal the identical twins standing behind him. They wore heavy bandages around their body and their arms were encased in heavy casts.

"These two wanted to see their grandpa," Kakashi explained, pointing back at them with his thumb. Lee was surprised by their presence and tried to cover his face with his blanket. The girls limped inside the room and the Jounin closed the door behind them.

"Well, you weren't satisfied with beating us up that you had to go and pick on our grandpa, didn't you?" one of the sister accused the young ninja. Lee only turned redder underneath his sheets. The sisters both sighed in unison and approached their only existing family member. The Old Man jumped from his bed joyously and embraced his grandchildren.

"Oh am I glad to see you two!" he yelled out happily. Both girls wore disappointed look on their faces while pulling away from his brittle arms.

"We heard about the fight, grandpa," said the first sister.

"We also heard you lost," the second sister continued. The Old Man was lost for words. The only two people he trusted in the world were staring at him like a failure and it caused his heart to ache painfully. He turned his gaze away and sniffed like a little child with his back turned against them.

"I mean, who would believe that you were once an Anbu leader with a disappointing loss like that?" they both muttered in sync. Their words shattered Shinichi's heart completely. Watching from across the room, Kakashi felt a bit sorry for the geezer. When he was just about to go and join them, the door was opened again, and a strange looking man in raggedy clothes stepped inside. Kakashi recognized him as the traveler he met earlier during the battle.

"Um, excuse me…Is this where that young boy is resting?" he asked, taking off his straw hat to reveal a rather nasty scar on his head. Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the sight of his hideous mark, but he was able to mask his suspicion. By this time, everyone was looking towards their direction.

"Yes, but who are you?" the Jounin asked. The stranger hesitated, staring at the ninja briefly before opening his mouth again.

"I'm sorry, I may have been rude interrupting their much needed rest, but…" he trailed.

"But I am Hozaku Tomahara, and I'm a fighting promoter."

"And what kind of business would a fighting promoter have in this room?" Kakashi inquired further, having already grasped his intentions. As he felt the heat of his interrogation getting intense, the stranger could not help but smile in his situation.

"Why, because I would like for that boy to fight for me, of course!"

**Chapter 7: Onward Towards the Tournament**

A week passed, and both Rock Lee and Shinichi were back out on the streets. The entire city was already being built from the ground up and Lee marched towards the half built gate while shouldering his belongings. The citizens of the sea port city had all stopped their work and gathered around him to say their goodbyes, including Shinichi, who was placed as their new mayor by the request from nearly everyone in the city.

"You're gonna do well, Old man," Rock Lee commented in his "nice guy" pose. Shinichi scratched the back of his head and yawned upon hearing his words.

"Ah, shut your trap and get out of my city already," he replied. Instead of getting discouraged by his words, Lee merely grinned and fastened the strapping around his shoulder. Then the Old Man produced something from his bag and handed it to the young boy.

"Here, take this. It's the thing that I promised to wager during our battle."

The Genin took a looked at his gift. It was an old casing with ancient Chinese scriptures written on the cover. Puzzled, Lee opened the box to reveal a metal nunchaku, conjoined in the middle with chains. Lee beamed at the sight and turned to face the old man.

"Thank you," he said, but Shinichi looked away disapprovingly. The young ninja gave a sheepish grin and turned away to face Kakashi who was watching from the side.

"Thank you again, too, Kakashi sensei."

The white haired Jounin nodded.

"Are you sure this is what you want to do?" Kakashi asked, still worried about the path that the boy was about to take. Then the Genin replied without hesitation.

"Of course. This is all part of my training!" he yelled.

"Come on, we got a lot of ground to cover today!" Hozaku reminded the boy. Lee nodded in understanding and turned around to wave at the crowd for the last time. Then he ran to the fighting promoter's side and they began walking away towards their new adventure.

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"So what exactly is a fighting promoter?" Lee asked while they continued to trod their way through the forest.

"I mean, from what you told me last week, all I know is that you're like a sponsor for a fighter…"

Hozaku stopped walking and looked around his surrounding. When he confirmed that they were safe, he turned to the boy and smiled.

"How about we rest now and I'll tell you more about my job and the tournament?"

Lee returned his smile and nodded, wholly approving his plan. They settled on a clearing and unpacked their things to get ready for night fall. While the older man tended to the camp fire, Lee started cooking some potatoes with a stick.

"You see," Hozaku started.

"Fighting promoters are people who find capable fighters across the continent and sponsor them to battle in public tournaments. They perform physical examinations on their employees and basically coach and manage them for each bout. They are also responsible for their employees' publicity. When their fighters are well recognized and they keep winning their fights, the promoters receive a handsome share of the money that the tournament brings in, because the public will be coming to the arena to watch the top fighters duke it out," he explained. After having listened to the man give out a brief job description of his profession, Lee came to just one conclusion.

"So it's a high form of gambling?" he said. The man looked up briefly, before placing his attention back to the fire.

"Well, it is a risky trade, but it's honest," he replied. "It's not illegal and it takes more than luck to remain in this occupation."

Lee felt that maybe he hurt the man's pride by comparing it to gambling. But when he saw the man's face glimmer by the light, he saw Hozaku's soft smile and relaxed a bit.

"So how does this tournament work?" Lee asked, handing a potato-on-a-stick to the promoter. Hozaku bit into his meal and sat back to watch the fire slowly burn.

"Well, each fighter is given three points. Every time you lose a fight, you lose a point. But when you win, you keep your points. As soon as your points dwindle down to zero, you're outta the game. You will be pinned in three matches each week, so it doesn't give you too much time to recover and you could be out of the tourney in just a week. So it's best if you try to not hurt yourself," he explained. The young ninja was lost for words.

"Three battles a week!" he exclaimed.

"Oh yeah. You're also not allowed to replenish your health through any medical supplements like the soldier pills and stuff. If you do, you're disqualified," Hozaku added. Lee didn't know whether to be excited or anguished. It seemed like a hell of a tournament.

"Is it worth it?" Lee finally asked. Hozaku pulled his gaze away from the flame and looked at the young ninja.

"Oh, it's definitely worth it. For the promoter," he answered. "After all, you said it didn't matter what you get out of the tournament, as long as you were pinned with some of the finest fighters around, right?" he said. Lee played with his food, a bit disgusted with himself for making such a remark.

"That's true…But what incentives do they offer to the other fighters who aren't like me?" he asked again.

"A portion of the promoter's earning," the older man replied. "But that stuff is handled outside of the tournament. Not really legal, according to the rules, but nobody really cares because some of these fighters are real cash cows that the tournament wants to milk for all they're worth. Hell, sometimes, the tournament holders pay the fighters to come back and fight in their next tourney."

"So, why can't fighters register to fight without promoters?" Lee asked, struck by the obvious error in logic.

"That's a good question," he said.

"That's because without a fighting promoter, a fighter cannot last a single week. We're well versed in handling fighters within the restrictions it gives us, and we behave as mediators so there are no mishaps outside the ring. But I guess, more importantly, the tournament does not want to be liable for legal proceedings, if you know what I mean," he said. "You know, stuff like death? Since we sign you guys up, we become responsible for you all."

"Anyways, the fighters need us as much as we need them. You'll see soon, if you don't already," he added. Lee nodded absent mindedly, not quite understanding him yet.

"Now since we've satisfied our curiosity enough to last us for the life time…Why don't we get some sleep already, huh?" Hozaku suggested with a grin. Lee agreed, yawning and unfolding his sheets.

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Lee tossed and turned in his sleep while he faced unknown opponents in his dream. He swung his fist in the air as he began to sleep talk, causing little critters in the forest to scatter away from the camp site. Then from across the clearing, the bushes rattled as two shadowy figures stirred up and spied on the unsuspecting preys. They stepped out from their hiding and slowly crept towards the ninja and his companion, bringing out their concealed weapons as they came closer.

"Take this Neji-san!" Lee shouted, throwing his arms up and catching one of the sneaking men in the chin. The thief screamed in pain and tumbled backwards. His partner ran past the fire to his friend, but he stopped when he felt a sharp object being placed on his neck. Hozaku stood right behind him with a fruit knife.

"Get lost before I kill you both," he whispered. The thief slipped out a coin from his sleeve and flicked it up towards the man's chin. On impact, Hozaku was sent stumbling backwards and the thief took that chance to kick him square in the chest. The fight promoter was sent flying and he crashed into a nearby tree. The loud crackling noise echoed through the forest and Lee stirred from his sleep.

"Wh-What's going on?" he murmured as he rubbed his eyes. When his vision was clear, he caught sight of an unsuccessful burglary in action.

"What are you two doing here?" he asked casually, getting up from his sleeping bag and flattening out the wrinkles on his green pajama. The two thieves looked at each other for some sort of a plan, but they both drew a blank.

"Hold it, Lee. I'll take care of this," came a voice from behind the two unsuspecting partners. When they turned around, they felt their jaws sink deep into their face as they were pummeled in the face by Hozaku. He continued his onslaught until they were both toothless and sprawling on the floor like they were suffering from seizures. He dusted his hands and took a few step backwards. Then he came running and reeled back his right feet as far as he can. Before they both knew what was coming, they were both sent flying towards the beautiful night sky.

Rock Lee's draws dropped at the sight of such brutality.

"Um, promoter-san. Do you really think all that was necessary?" he asked. Hozaku cracked his knuckles for good measure and turned around to face his new companion.

"It's my job from now on to look after you, Lee. I can't let you be involved something so trivial," he remarked. Lee nodded absent mindedly.

"But aren't you hurt?" the young ninja inquired. Hozaku chuckled and took a step forward and found himself off balance and falling flat on his face. Lee face faulted.

"You're not in any position to chuckle!" he hollered. The older man got back on his knees and smirked as he took out his pack of cigarettes.

"Heh, I guess I'm a bit rusty," he mumbled. Lee knelt quietly, eyeing the man before him.

"But you're not at all bad at fighting. When did you learn to fight like that?" questioned the young boy. The man puffed his smoke and closed his eyes, recollecting his past memories and deciding whether his story was worth telling anyone.

"Before I became a fight promoter, I used to participate in the competitions myself," he began.

"There used to be this man that I looked up to. He was my own fight promoter and he did everything to make sure I was safe. One time, I got lucky and made it to the final bout. Heh, I was beaten senseless in the fight and was left with these scars on my head. At the time, I was coping with my heavy injuries so I wasn't able to compete. Of course, I was no use to my fight promoter…But he didn't abandon me. He looked after me until I was able to get back up on my own. Afterwards, he told me to leave the business because I was a disgrace."

Hozaku sat watching the ash fall from the tip of his cigarette.

"At the time, I resented him for telling me that. But soon afterwards, I knew. I wasn't able to get back in the ring. I tried to get back in the competitions with several different fight promoters, but I couldn't even look at my opponents' faces. I was completely terrified of the arena. I began to have dreams of my defeat that day and I was scared shitless. But I couldn't stay away from it. All my hopes and dreams remained unresolved in the ring. So I decided to become a fight promoter so I can continue to cling on to my aspirations."

The older man sighed and put out his smoke on the ground. Then he heard soft sniffling noise coming from his companion. Rock Lee was in tears.

"Th-that's such a great story!" Lee shouted. Hozaku stared at him, then shook his head.

"No, it's pathetic," he replied. "This is the only thing I have to look forward to, so I hold on to it."

This time, Lee shook his head, disagreeing with the promoter.

"No, not at all! It's not your inability to find something else in your life that has you tied to the arena! It's your passion for the event that has continued to keep you in your position!" the young Genin exclaimed.

"You…You are trying to follow the path that your promoter has tread. So I'll help you become the greatest promoter ever, Hozaku-san!" he added.

The older man stood still, looking at the young ninja in tears. Then he began to chuckle to himself. Rock Lee stopped crying and looked up at Hozaku.

"Wh-What's so funny?" he asked, suddenly getting a bit upset at the man's behavior. Hozaku continued to chuckle, until it became a violent laughter.

"Yo-You are very amusing!" the man shouted. Lee became suddenly bashful at his remark.

"Wh-Why does everyone seem to say the same thing to me?" he asked himself as looked up at the starry night sky.

To be continued…

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Author's Notes: Sorry it took a long time to dish this one out. Hopefully the next chapter won't take as long.


	8. Delayed!

1_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I probably never will. _

**Author's Notes:** College eats most of my time. Sorry about the lateness of it all.

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Two days and two nights, and still no sign of the village in question for the two travelers. The one in the green outfit looked around the forest with overflowing optimism, while his companion carried himself with the aid of a sturdy tree branch, looking awfully exhausted from walking around aimlessly all day. The situation seemed hopeless, as they were still trying to find their way out of the lush forest, hearing faint howls from a distance, and seeing sharp red glaring eyes from the brushes behind them.

"I think we should stop here for the night!" Lee shouted with his index finger pointed high in the air, suggesting authority. The older man looked at him and them slapped him hard on the back of his head.

"Are you crazy? Don't you hear all those noises in here? Whatever we do, we have to get outta here before we can stop to rest," he explained. Lee rubbed the back of his head to ease the pain and pumped his fist back in the air.

"We can...Beat them up for dinner if they try anything funny!" he screamed. Hozaku gripped his branch tightly, trying to hold himself back from injuring his fighter. Then they heard a loud shrilling scream, echoing through the forest. The noise itself was enough to send a shiver down the spine of any great Shinobi. The two man found themselves holding each other tightly in their arms and loosen their grips, blushing afterwards. They both gulped and looked down the darkened path.

"We have to check it out," Lee whispered, trying as hard to look undaunted by the noise.

"We can't. We have some place to be right now," the older man reasoned. Lee looked up at him sharply.

"Someone out there needs our help!" he yelled. Hozaku gritted his teeth and gripped the boy's shoulders.

"Look, we have to get there by tomorrow morning in order to register and right now, we're in no position to help anybody aside from ourselves!"

Lee looked away from him wearily.

"I wouldn't perform as well as I possibly can if I let somebody down by not helping them. It'll keep nagging at my head till I can't take it anymore..."the Genin whispered weakly. The fight promoter continued to grit his teeth.

"Are you black mailing me?" he asked.

"Yes," the boy confessed. "Not only that, but I'll perform SO BADLY, that you'll never be able to return to the tournament, because everyone will go 'Oh look, there goes that failure of a fight promoter! Let's not watch any of his fights!' And then you'll be ruined forever!" Rock Lee exclaimed. Hozaku was not used to being toyed around by his own fighter.

"NO!" he screamed in agony, feeling all the imaginary glares of his adoring audience members. His body twitched uncontrollably and he plopped down on his knees.

"Okay, we'll go help," he finally gave in. Lee pumped his fist in the air triumphantly.

"YAAH!" he shouted as he marched back towards the dark forest.

**Chapter 8: Delayed! **

The two tried to pint point the location of the noise. Lee ran up the side of a large pine tree and looked across the huge forest. He squinted his eyes and located a woman being surrounded by a large number of bears.

"Hozaku, there's a woman being threatened by a school of bears!" Lee shouted. Hozaku looked up quizzically.

"Lee, you don't say 'school of bears'!" he shouted back from the ground.

"A herd of bears then?" Lee asked, projecting his voice as much as he can.

"No, Lee just...Look that's not important! Let's go and save her already!" Hozaku yelled. Lee jumped back down the tree and led the older man to the location of the woman in need of their help. When they finally arrived at the clearing where the woman in her twenties was attempting to climb up a tree, they noticed how big the bears seemed to be up close.

"These bears...They don't seem like ordinary bears," Lee commented, furrowing his eyebrows.

"Of course not! Bears usually don't carry axes and swords!" Hozaku reminded him. The bears finally seemed to take notice of them. They wore black jackets with white crescent moons on the back, white head bands on their heads, and carried man made weapons in their hands. Lee ignored all these strange matters to consider and jumped in between the woman and the...

"Flock of bears! Leave her alone!" he shouted.

"You don't say that either!" Hozaku yelled. The bears growled angrily, clearly irritated by the sudden interference. They swung their weapons around and tried to hack away at the young ninja. Lee quickly took out his metal nunchaku, the gift he received from Old man Shinichi, and parried their attacks. He swung it over one of the bear's neck, gripped it tightly and hurtled the bear across the clearing. He kicked one of them in the stomach and smashed his weapon on to its large skull, rendering it unconscious. The rest cornered him to a tree, with the woman right behind him, who was staring wide eyed at the scenery before her. He pocketed his weapon and turned around swiftly, extending his right leg. The woman gasped and crouched down, but his feet stretched out above her head and tore the tree from its roots. He held up his hands and caught the falling tree and began to swing it around at the bears. They were taken back by his surprise attack, but one of them was brave enough to catch the tree and swing it back up, carrying Rock Lee with it.

"Ah!" exclaimed Lee as he felt himself being lifted into the air. The lead bear then smashed the tree onto the forest floor, but Lee withstood the attack by tightening his leg muscles, standing his ground in the face of his animal adversary. But what he failed to realize by then was that he was no longer shielding the woman.

"Ah!" Lee exclaimed again. Two bears approached her with their weapons. Hozaku ran up and tried to save her, but a third bear appeared in his path and hugged him tightly, constricting him and immobilizing the man temporarily.

"Damn!" Lee muttered, throwing the tree to his side and running past the lead bear. But he couldn't possibly make it in time. The bears swung their weapons and the woman closed her eyes, waiting for her impending doom.

Silence.

When she opened her eyes again, there was another individual standing before her, blocking the bears' weapons with a single dark bladed katana. He had a flowing blond hair that was tied up into a pony tail by his village head protector. He was wearing a gray vest over his white t-shirt, suggesting that he was at least a chuunin, a pair of pale green shorts, and a sheath for his katana dangling on his back. His deep blue eyes gazed into the eyes of the bears and he allowed his lips to curl into a grin. He brought back his sword and held it before him, changing his stance slightly to suggest another attack.

"Dance of the Angry Hyenas!" he screamed. He began to slice the air in random patterns, catching the bears off guard.

Lee became skeptical of the new comer.

The girl stared at him, doubtful of his skills as well.

Hozaku was being choked to death by an angry bear.

Lee ran off to his companion and kicked the bear's head with enough intensity to knock it clean off its neck, but it just caused him to fly off deep into the woods. Hozaku got on his knees and tried to feel his lungs to see if it was still there.

When Lee looked over at the strange ninja again, he caught him twirling around with his sword.

"Dance of the Mighty Whirl Wind of DEATH!" the sword swinging lunatic exclaimed. The bears became suspicious of the authenticity of the boy's attacks, dodging his sword with ease. Not being able to watch it any longer, Lee jumped over the boy and pummeled the bears with his KonohaWhirlwind technique. The lead bear approached the two young ninjas with its paws extended menacingly, trying to lay its revenge on them for his fallen comrades.

"Let me handle this," the new comer said, charging at the bear with his sword held at his side. Lee ran past him and performed a sliding tackle, knocking the bear off its legs and leaving it behind them. Then Lee took out a kunai from his pack and approached the shaken bear.

"You know, if I skinned you and made you into a carpet, I could probably get a hefty amount for it," the boy in green whispered, adding a devilish chuckle. The bear did a sweat drop and ran into the forest for its dear life. For a moment, there was silence all around the forest. Then Lee abruptly turned around and faced his promoter with his index finger pointed high in the air.

"A pack of bears!" he shouted.

"No, you don't say..." he paused. "You know what? I just don't know what it is anymore and I have you to blame for it," said Hozaku.

----------------------------

They got a fire starting in the middle of the clearing , using a freshly chopped tree as the base. The four newly acquainted people sat around it for warmth and looked at one another.

"Thank you for saving me," said the woman, bowing before them. Hozaku looked away, still displeased about being delayed in their journey. Lee kept a modest face as he tried really hard not to become embarrassed.

"It was no big deal,"the sword boy calmly answered.

Both Lee and Hozaku glared at him for daring to take their glory.

"So who are you?" Lee asked.

"The name's Tenchi, the Heavenly Sword. Of course, that's not the name given to me at birth, but it does have its charm, doesn't it?" Tenchi happily replied.

"I was asking the woman..." said the boy in green. Tenchi ignored him and cleaned his sword with a cotton cloth while humming a cheery tune to himself.

"My name is Monoko. This forest is famous for its tasty berries so I was picking them, but I didn't realize how late it's become. When I tried to return to my village, I got lost in the dark and ended up being cornered by the Bears," she explained.

"Do you know anything about these bears?" Hozaku questioned, sitting rather uncomfortably on a tree stump. Monoko abruptly looked up at the man, and cast her glance downwards again.

"Yes...These bears used to live in harmony with our villagers. But one day, our villagers have begun to forget the contributions made by the Bears and treated them like indentured slaves. In the end, they weren't able to take the abuse anymore and took residence in the forest, back from where they came from. From then on, they formed a huge gang and begun to dress like humans and use our weapons to represent their equality to men," said Monoko. The rest remained silent.

"So lady, do you know how to get to Maple village?" Tenchi asked as he sheathed his sword.

"Well, I do but..." she began.

"Wait, you're going to Maple village, too? What business do you have over there?" Hozaku inquired. The blond ninja blew on his nails and got up on his feet.

"What else? The Maple Village Tournament," he replied. Both Lee and Hozaku's jaws dropped to the floor. Then they both tried to calm down simultaneously.

"Without a fight promoter?" Lee asked this time. Tenchi looked at him lazily.

"No, mines waiting for me already at the location," he answered. "I just got lost on my way down the mountain trail."

Lee scooted closer to his traveling companion.

"Who would willingly be his fighting promoter?" Lee whispered to Hozaku. The older man nodded in agreement.

"Besides, you owe us for saving your life..."mentioned the blond ninja. Hozaku and Lee made horrid expressions at the notion of him being any of help to them during the whole encounter. Monoko blushed slightly and nodded to herself.

"I will guide you," she said reluctantly.

--------------------------------------------

Rock Lee felt a bit sorry for Monoko. He felt as if they were using her gratitude to their full advantage to get to their destination. But he couldn't possibly bring himself to say so, seeing as he was desperate for her help as well. He bit his lips and continued to tread behind them, trying hard to concentrate on something else to ease his conscience. Hozaku turned his head slightly and caught a glimpse of Rock Lee sulking behind him. He sighed and allowed himself to slow down to match Lee's pace. The Genin looked up and noticed the older man walking next to him.

"Don't worry about it, Lee," he whispered. The boy wasn't so sure about his advice.

Soon, they came to an opening in the forest, which led down a hill to a large village in the distance. Lee sulked to the end of their journey and this made Hozaku a bit uncomfortable.

"This trail will lead you to Maple village," Monoko explained. She stood beside them as they passed her one by one. When it was Hozaku's turn to follow the trail, he stopped and turned around to face Monoko.

"Who are you really?" he asked. This startled both Rock Lee and Monoko.

"What are you doing, Hozaku-san?" Lee inquired. The older man waved him away and glared at the woman before him.

"What are you talking about?" she asked.

"Don't play dumb with me. Lee and I have been traveling through this forest and I haven't seen any berries around here. Not only that but you don't smell like you've been picking berries all day. Either I'm going crazy or you have been lying to us," Hozaku elaborated. Monoko sighed and looked around.

"You couldn't have possibly been around the entire forest," she said. The promoter snickered.

"Wanna bet? We've been in here for nearly three days now. Not that I'm proud of it or anything..." he told her, "plus, that story about bears and the villagers. That's an old folklore originating from the Coal Country. Granted, not too many people know about it."

Hozaku watched her close her fist tightly and bite her lower lip, trembling as she did so.

"Looks like I've been found out," she whispered. Rock Lee approached the two slowly and quietly.

"What's going on...?" he asked. Then all of a sudden, Monoko crouched on all fours and began to grow bigger in size. Her clothes became tight around her body, which seemed to be growing brown fur all over. Her hands grew stubbier, her fingernails growing larger and sharper by the second. Her nose grew into a snout that poked out from her skull, her ears standing over her head.

"A gigantic...bear?" Lee muttered. What used to be Monoko stood drooling on its hind legs, her lips curling as it drew breath and growling at her preys standing dumbfounded before her. She roared, pounded her chest and swiped at the young ninja. Lee jumped up and held on to her arm as she brought it back behind her. Meanwhile, Hozaku looked around and found that the young blond ninja was already long gone.

"Damn useless bastard," Hozaku cursed.

Lee twirled in the air and kicked the bear on the back of its head. Then he ran down her spine as she tried to reach around her back with her sharp claws. Lee jumped back down on the ground and ran through between her legs. He brought out a kunai and stabbed at one of her toe, expecting the bear to cringe from the pain. Instead, it made her angrier, causing her to try and squash him like a bug with her gigantic feet. He performed five consecutive back tumbles to escape from her reach.

"What do we do now, Hozaku-san?" Lee asked desperately. Hozaku took off his straw hat and scratched his scar-ridden scalp.

"Run," he advised.

"What?" Lee asked again. When he turned around to face Hozaku, he saw that his promoter was already running ahead of him. The boy became alarmed and ran after him, leaving the bear to roar and bring destruction to the forest.

-----------------------------------

They escaped through the trail and stood panting at the entrance of the Maple village.

"I still don't understand something, Hozaku-san," Lee said in between his breath. "If she was really trying to deceive us, then how come she showed us the right way to our destination?"

Hozaku thought about this.

"I have no idea. But I was going to let it pass if it weren't for you," the older man said. Lee stopped panting.

"What do you mean by that?" he asked. Hozaku looked at him.

"You felt bad about us using her so I had to do something to cheer you up," he explained. The young Genin frowned.

"If I knew that she was a bear, then I wouldn't have felt bad about it? I'd rather have not known that I think," he countered. The promoter snorted.

"I think traveling with you for mere three days has taught me better than that," he said. "You wouldn't have stopped nagging me about it until the end of the tournament."

Lee kept quiet, knowing fully first hand that this was true.

"How about those other bears? Were they not real?" Lee asked.

"I suppose they're what you shinobis call 'Bunshin'," he answered. Lee knew better than that, but he refused to correct him.

"Well, all that aside, we're finally here," Hozaku announced proudly. Lee looked at the wooden panel hanging over their head which read 'Maple Village,' in the bright moon light.

He allowed himself to smile in anticipation of his upcoming battles.

To be continued...

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Author's Notes: Thanks for waiting. I hope this chapter pleased what readers I have left still waiting for me to unfold my story.


	9. On With the Fights!

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto and I probably never will. _

**Author's Notes:** Not much to say this time around...Hopefully the small amount of people still reading this will be please.

* * *

The sun stood high above the large crowd of people lined up before the long rows of registration booths, each of them waiting for their turn to sign up for the highly anticipated tournament to test their combat skills. Rock Lee stood behind Hozaku as he looked around excitedly at the people gathered in the packed narrow marketplace of Maple Village. 

"There sure are a lot of people here," commented the young ninja. Hozaku chuckled at his fighter's words.

"The Maple Village tournament is the ultimate crowd pleaser. This is where legendary fighters like Makunouchi Ippo and Jin Kazama were literally born," the older man explained. Lee heard of these legendary fighters. They were not trained to be ninjas, but they conquered the rings with their raw strengths alone. And for this reason, Lee unconsciously drooled at the idea of fighting in the same ring as these legendary individuals. Then something caught his eyes.

"Um, Hozaku-san?" Lee tugged at his shirt.

"What?" he asked. Then he saw it, too. They were both looking at the same young boy with a single village head protector that seemed to hold the same blond hair together, the same gray vest that hung over a plain white t-shirt, and a single katana sheath hanging on his back.

"Tenchi," they both whispered in unison. At that moment, the young blond ninja sneezed on the back of the person before him.

"Who's that with him?"

Hozaku looked at where Lee was pointing and saw a tall lean man with long flowing silvery hair. He was wearing a long white robe and a pair of dark sunglasses that rested uneasily on the bridge of his nose. Hozaku unconsciously clenched his fists.

"Lee, be prepared," he said.

Puzzled by his words, Lee can only nod and acknowledge him. He glanced at his fight promoter's clenched white knuckles and quietly stared at the two potential opponents in his path, a single sweat forming on his forehead.

**Chapter 9: On With the Fights! **

Lee looked around their hotel room, slightly disheartened by its condition. The walls were deeply scarred and the paints were scraped off the surface with cockroaches crawling beneath the cracks that ran rampant across it. Their only toilet was standing on its back while the broken faucet in the sink quietly dripped on its own, the shower curtain strewn messily over the bathroom floor. However, their beds were made neatly and the sheets seemed to have been changed recently, bringing a sense of contrast to their room.

"Um, how much did we pay for this room, Hozaku-san?" Lee inquired, putting his bags on the cleanest corner of the room. His companion stood in the middle of the space, picking his nose and looking out the window.

"Nothing. I came here to get paid. Not to pay for some shabby hotel rooms," he replied. Lee frowned, both at his remark and the foul stench that seemed to be coming from the closets.

"Anyways, rest for a bit. Our training session will start soon," Hozaku advised. Lee looked up happily at the notion of undergoing some form of training.

"What kind of things will this training entail?" the young boy asked, almost beaming at the older man. This both disturbed and impressed Hozaku.

"Well, you'll see," he said. This didn't satisfy Lee's curiosity one bit, but he held it back. He plopped down on his side of the bed and tried not to concentrate on the stench.

"I'll be back later," Hozaku told him. He watched the young ninja nod slightly as he began to doze off. The promoter smiled and closed the door behind him, heading off to the promoter's court to gather some information.

--------------------------------------------------

When Hozaku arrived at his desired destination, there weren't too many people around, which puzzled him. There usually were many fight promoters gathered here to chat and boast about their new fighters.

"Where are they?" he asked to no one in particular.

"Already training," someone answered. Hozaku turned around and saw the same white robed man with the dark sunglasses he saw in the morning.

"Goru," Hozaku whispered, a bit annoyed by his presence. The mysterious silver haired man smiled, walked over to a nearby table and picked up a flyer. Looking it over, he chuckled lightly to himself.

"Maple Village Tournament. The most anticipated line up this year, with the return of Goru the genius promoter," he read it over loud enough for Hozaku to hear it. Then the tall lean man turned around and crumpled the flyer in his hands before the other promoter.

"This disgusts me," he told him. Beads of sweat began to form on Hozaku's forehead.

"A little publicity disgusts you?" he asked him. Goru nodded and threw the ball of paper behind him.

"Some of us are sincere in wishing to enjoy these events for what they're worth," the white robed man answered quietly.

"But with these type of absurdity floating around, I can't enjoy myself. I don't like seeing my opponents waiting for me in anticipation and fear. I like to see them enjoy themselves and boast. Brag even," he explained.

Hozaku gulped. Goru pointed an accusing finger at the older man before him and frowned.

"See what I mean? It's no fun at all," he said with disappointment. Hozaku furrowed his eyebrows.

"So everyone is off to train, are they?" the older man muttered. Goru tucked his hands within his sleeves and began to walk away. Then he stopped by the exit.

"Though there seems to be some hope this year," he said. "There are several ninjas that seemed to have snuck in this time. Including yours."

With that, he left silently, as if he was never there to begin with. Hozaku gritted his teeth and punched the wall next to him to ease his excitement.

------------------------------------------------------

Lee tread behind his promoter through the nearby plains. The older man seemed to have something in his mind that was bothering him and it was apparent on his face, but Lee decided not to ask him about it.

"So what are we doing here?" Lee asked once they stopped. Hozaku turned around and held a rock in his left hand.

"Know what this is?" he asked him. Puzzled by his question, Lee kept silent.

"A rock?" he finally muttered, a bit unsure of the older man's intention. Hozaku nodded, tossing the piece of rock in the air and catching it again.

"Yes. A rock. Then do you know what it means to destroy this rock?" he asked him. Lee scratched the back of his head doubtfully.

"Um, by breaking it with force?" he answered. His fight promoter sighed and shook his head.

"No. This rock. It's a solid material formed from solidifying different type of minerals together. To destroy this rock would mean separating these different type of minerals."

With that Hozaku tossed the piece of rock in the air again. But instead of catching it, he pulled his fist back and punched it in mid-air. On impact, the rock exploded into a pile of fine grain of sand and it flew away in the passing wind. Lee watched in utter amazement.

"How is that possible?" he allowed himself to mouth, still unable to believe his own eyes.

"There's a big difference in breaking something and destroying something, Lee. And this will be the defining difference in your matches," Hozaku added. "Futari no Kiwami. Other wise known as the "double impact fist."

"Futari no...Kiwami?" Lee blinked in bewilderment. Hozaku tossed him another piece of rock and Lee clutched it in his hands on instinct.

"Yes. And I want you to figure out how to use this technique on your own. That will be your training," said the older man. Lee looked at him with wide eyes.

"But..." he began.

"I already gave you enough hints to complete this on your own," Hozaku told him. Then he turned around and began to walk back towards the village.

"Come back in time for dinner," he said. Lee watched the older man disappear over the hill and looked at the piece of rock in his hand as he bit his lower lip.

"Futari no Kiwami," he repeated.

He then threw the rock in the air and punched it as hard as he can. The piece of rock broke off into tiny chunks and spread over the grass.

------------------------------------------------

The next morning, Hozaku woke up from his bed and looked outside the dirty broken window beside him, catching a face full of warm sunshine. Then he remembered.

Lee didn't come back yesterday.

He immediately got dressed and walked out of their room. He ran out to the plains where he last saw him and stumbled over a huge pile of broken rocks that seemed to be scattered across for at least a mile.

"This kid..." the promoter whispered. He ran across the broken piles of rocks and saw the boy ahead, breaking a gigantic boulder into tiny pieces with his raw and bloody fist.

"Stop!" Hozaku shouted.

Lee turned around and saw his promoter come up to him. He waved at him weakly and returned to his task. Hozaku finally caught up to him and held Lee's fist drenched in blood.

"What do you think you're doing?" he barked. Lee looked tired and satisfied at the same time.

"I...just had to keep going," he answered. "I managed to actually do it once, but I don't remember how I did it. So I just kept trying again."

The older man looked at him curiously. Then he spotted the safely protected grain of sand at Lee's side, away from the other broken pieces.

"Stop now. You have a match later today and if you further damage your fist, we just won't stand a chance," he said. Tired, Lee plopped on the ground and looked up at the cloudless sky.

"I had it. I actually had it," he kept repeating.

"No you didn't. You just lucked out once," Hozaku corrected him afterwards. He watched the young ninja doze off before him and he let out a huge sigh.

"Stubborn little bastard."

--------------------------------------------

The stadium was designed like a large ball park with seats arranged in a gigantic oval around a field of fresh green grass. In the center, there was a large pool of water that seemed to stretch for at least a quarter of a mile. Extending from the depth of this body of water were two pieces of carved woods in the shape of large Y's. Hung on top of these two pillar like structures was a five feet wide wooden plank made from an oak reinforced with other materials. Above the stadium were large score boards that displayed the names of the fighters and their partners. One of them read Rock Lee and Hozaku Tomahara.

The two stood before the Y shaped wooden pillar and looked above at the large crowd gathered at the stadium to watch the fight.

"First impression is everything, Lee. Give them what they want," said Hozaku. Lee nodded, tightening the bandages around his right injured fist in order to numb the pain and to stop it from swelling too much.

Then his fight promoter handed him a tiny ear plug. Lee took it and looked up at the older man with a confused expression.

"I will be talking to you from down here to instruct you on your strategies, among other things. Put that ear plug in your right ear and you will be able to hear me. Got it?"

The young Genin placed the mechanism in his right ear and gave him the thumbs up sign.

"I will win this one for you, Hozaku-san," he said. Then he began to climb up the wooden pillar by hand. His opponent, Asuma was already waiting for him on the planks to welcome him with his naked rock hard abs. He wore a white bandana on top of his bald head and a pair of black sweat pants with white stripes stretching across the length of his legs. He cracked his knuckles threateningly and shook his head sideways to relax his thick neck muscles.

"So you're up first," greeted the finely tuned fighter. Lee bowed to him formally and stuck out his right hand.

"Pleased to meet you. Let's have a good one!" the young ninja exclaimed. Asuma stuck his hand out like a good sport and noticed the hidden village head protector on Lee's waist.

"A shinobi, ey? You don't really look like one though," Asuma admitted. Lee smiled gently at his remark.

"So I've heard countless times in the past," he said. Asuma felt himself cautiously eyeing the boy for any surprises he might be concealing.

"Let us find out who's stronger," the shapely fighter proposed. Then they both took on their starting fight stances. Asuma had his fists stuck out before him in the fashion of any trained kick boxer, and Lee had his default stance of one palm stuck out before him while hiding the other fist behind his back.

"Lee, can you hear me?" came the voice from his ear plug.

"Yes!" shouted Lee, throwing off Asuma in the process.

"You idiot! Just keep quiet and listen to me. Now, right when the ref begins the round, I want you to take your distance and use projectile weapons," Hozaku instructed.

"Okay, now. Begin!" a voice filled the stadium. The two fighters did not hesitate. Asuma came swinging at the young ninja, and Lee did as he was told. He took out three shurikens and threw them towards his opponent. The young ripped fighter charged ahead and rolled underneath the oncoming flying objects, avoiding them completely in the process. Lee jumped over the rolling form of Asuma and ran towards the opposite direction, while taking out another three shurikens. He then bounced them over the oak, which sparked off the plank and flew off head on towards its target. Asuma jumped off the plank, stuck out a single hand and gripped the edge of the oak and swung himself around underneath it and back on the surface of the plank.

"He's got a good promoter with him," commented Hozaku. Lee wasn't so sure if he should be impressed at the moment. He took out a kunai from his pack this time and threw it across to the other side. Asuma arced his back and easily avoided the sharp projectile.

"Think again, Asuma-," warned the young Genin. Then Asuma noticed it. The kunai was strung at one end with a fishing wire.

"Damn!" he spat. He looked behind him and saw the flying kunai redirect itself and come back towards him. He dodged it again by stepping aside at the critical moment and saw Lee take out another seven kunais from his pack.

"I call this the Flying Octopus combo. Came up with it some time ago, but I wasn't able to try it until now," Lee told him. He then threw his entire supply of kunais at him, all of them strung at one end with the near invisible wires.

Asuma braced himself for the oncoming barrage of kunais. He saw them come slowly at him in his mind and began to move his highly flexible body around them all with ease. Lee orchestrated his flying weapons with the flick of his fingers and tried again and again to injure his opponent who was seemingly becoming faster with the passing time.

"Is this all you've got?" Asuma teased. When he looked over at where the young boy in the green outfit used to be, there was nobody to be seen. Yet the kunais kept on coming at him.

'What's going on,' thought the fighter. He looked to both his left and the right, yet the plank seemed to be completely deserted aside from himself. Then he heard footsteps coming from underneath him.

"Are you kidding me?" he murmured. Lee emerged from underneath the planks and delivered a spinning heel kick across Asuma's chin, which caused him to twist his entire body in mid-air. The kunais then spun around the air-borne fighter and constricted him with the fish wires. Lee used it to send him flying down towards the body of water underneath them.

"Nice, Lee. If he falls into the water, we win by ring out," Hozaku said.

Lee watched Asuma fall towards the pool of water.

"What the...?" the young boy started. He saw Asuma twist his body around and reach for the pillar with his hands. His arms grew longer and they held on to the Y shaped pillar. From there, Asuma swung himself around and crawled up to the plank and jumped back on top of the surface.

"How...How did you...?" Lee asked.

"I ate a strange fruit in my youth and since then, I was able to stretch out my limbs like rubber bands. Quite strange, huh? But more importantly, how did you walk underneath the plank?" Asuma inquired.

"By focusing our chakra on the soles of our feet, ninjas can walk on any surface," Lee explained.

"That rubbery body of his. That may explain his flexibility as well," Hozaku said through the ear phone. Lee clenched his teeth in frustration.

"Use your Octopus Combo again and bring it to a long range fight, Lee," his promoter advised. The young boy attempted to throw his kunais again when his hand was held back by the outstretched right arm of Asuma.

"Nah, I won't have you use your toys again," he said. Lee tried to shake his grip away, but his opponent held on strong. He then lifted Lee in the air and smashed his body against the hard wooden plank. The young ninja yelped as he felt an excruciating pain traveling through his spine.

Then Asuma spun him in the air and released him at maximum velocity and Lee felt himself being thrown like a baseball across the stage. As he neared the end of the plank, he reached out and held on to the top part of the Y pillar all the way at the other end. He slid back on the plank and watched Asuma stretch both his hands at an alarming speed. They went past him and held on to the top part of the pillar behind him. Then Asuma began to retract his body all the way towards Lee, his feet positioned to deliver a huge drop kick.

"Evade, Lee!" Hozaku ordered.

The boy in green jumped up and landed back on the plank once Asuma got past him.

"Naive," snickered the rubbery fighter. Lee turned around and saw him come back towards him again, about twice as fast as before. Lee ducked over and felt his opponent graze his back.

"Lee, dodge again!" his promoter shouted.

On cue, he performed a somersault and avoided the collision for the third time.

"Now, go knock out the top part of that Y pillar!"

Lee got the idea and charged towards the pillar. He then jumped up and broke off the top part of the pillar in which Asuma was holding with his hands, just enough so the pillar will still support the plank. This caused his opponent to panic.

"Is it over yet?" Lee wondered.

Unfortunate for him, Asuma used the broken pieces of the pillar to float on top of the body of water.

"Is that even legal?" the young Genin thought out loud as he observed his opponent.

"Damn, the pillars are still part of the stage so they're counting it. The battle isn't over yet!" Hozaku explained.

Lee saw Asuma climb back up the stage with his outstretched hands.

"Thought you had me, didn't you?" boasted the fighter.

"Okay, change of plan, Lee. Go in and turn it into a close quarter combat so we can render his ability useless," came a desperate voice from his ear phone.

Immediately, Lee charged in. He ducked under the rubbery arms and blocked Asuma's stretched legs with both his hands. He side stepped and kicked back with his feet, only to connect with the air. He then watched Asuma slither across the stage, slinging himself away from Lee by swinging himself around underneath the wooden plank. Lee ran back and tried to step on his hands that appeared every now and then as he swung across the stage to set another long ranged attack against Lee.

"You're like a monkey, Asuma-san!" shouted Lee. He heard his opponent chuckle as he kept avoiding him.

"And you're like a stubborn bull, Lee!" countered the rubbery man.

"This is so annoying...Take this!"

The young Genin held back his fist high in the air and punctured a hole through the plank. The crowd went nuts over his immense strength and this bold attack even surprised Asuma. But the young ninja reeled back in pain from using his injured fist on accident.

"Damn! Damn! Damn!" hollered the ninja. As he tried to ease his pain, he heard Hozaku in his ear piece.

"You idiot! You were trying to use the Futari no Kiwami, weren't you?" accused the voice. "You can't even properly use the technique yet! Plus if you were to demolish the plank, you'd fall into the water, too. What were you thinking!"

Lee felt dizzy from having Hozaku shout in his ears. He then saw Asuma slither back out from hiding.

"You're strong..." he complimented. He then began to pummel Lee with his fists, reeling them back and launching them again every time like a geared up toy. Lee took the punishment without complaint. Then he felt himself being lifted in the air again.

"This is the end for you, Lee. Hopefully your next match won't be as hard," he said.

Then the boy felt himself being thrown down towards his watery end. Asuma dusted his hands and walked over to get a better view of his audience so he can better grasp his own victory.

"Not just yet!" came a voice from far away.

With that, Asuma felt himself being bound by a long roll of bandages, rendering his ability useless. He felt himself sliding back on his back and his face warm from having to stare up at the sky.

"What's going on?" He tried to look behind him as he felt himself slide towards one end of the plank. Then he saw it. The roll of bandages seemed to originate from the hole made in the plank previously by Lee.

'No wonder I couldn't see it coming...' thought the rubbery man. Underneath him on the other side of the wooden board, Lee was dangling on by his own bandages.

"Good one. So how are you going to finish me now?" Asuma asked. Right at that moment, Lee unwrapped more of his bandage and allowed himself to dangle even further down. Afterwards, he swung himself towards a pillar and ripped his bandage. Then he tied the other end to the pillar he occupied, making sure that it was tight, and climbed back up on the surface.

Lee stared down at his tied up opponent. He then delivered a blow to his stomach that nearly knocked the wind out of Asuma.

"I could just punch you over and over until you've become unconscious and be declared a winner, but that's not who I am. Please forfeit now before I am forced to do so," he suggested.

Asuma looked at him with a mixture of amusement and pain from having been attacked unguarded.

"That's asking too much, don't you think?" Asuma asked, winking up at Lee. "You're the clear winner of this round. Why must you ask me to admit defeat?"

Lee smiled down at him.

"Because as much as I enjoyed this fight, I wouldn't want my opponent to walk away from the fight without knowing the pleasure in having fought and lost. As my role model, Gai sensei have told me before, you also have to understand the beauty of losing in order to truly appreciate winning," Lee explained.

"Winning all the time and never admitting defeat makes the whole experience mundane. To know both sides of the battle is the true key to enjoying the life of a fighter."

Asuma's face became rigid. He then smiled brightly upward at the young ninja.

"I lost. I admit defeat," he said.

As soon as the words reached Lee's ears, the whole crowd got up and applauded the victor of the long and invigorating combat. The announcement of his victory echoed through the stadium as he lifted Asuma back from the plank, having untied him previously.

"Good job, Lee," congratulated the older man through his ear piece. Lee looked over down the stage and at his fight promoter, who flashed a smile for him.

Lee gave him his signature thumbs up sign, his "nice guy" pose in order to show him that he had done what he set out to do.

To be continued...

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**Author's Notes:** I actually took on the advice of someone who left me a review saying that I ought to use techniques and such from other animes and games. If you're familiar with Rurouni Kenshin and One Piece, you'll know what I've done with this chapter. 

This one actually came out a lot faster than I imagined it would, so kudos for me. Anyways, I hope this chapter was good enough to read for some of you. Till next time.


	10. One Monkey, Two Monkey

_Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto nor any animes, and I probably never will. _

**Author's Notes: **Like I always say, I hope this one will please what little readers I have.

* * *

The weather was still as sunny as ever, the warm sunshine pouring across the giant stadium roaring with cheers for their favorite fighters. It's been about eight days since the tournament has commenced and Lee has protected his three points successfully in all five of his fights. He was currently in his sixth fight, which would mark the last battle for the second week of tournament for him. The thick brow ninja stood on a regular arena this time, laid with concrete blocks on top of a bare field of dirt. Lee eyed his strange opponent who was hopping around the stage as he tossed his mink coat around fashionably. The man appeared to be wearing a long brunette wig, a bright red lipstick, a new pair of fish net stockings, and a white one piece sundress with frills which were apparent on every corner. 

"So...You're a guy?" asked Lee for the third time.

"Yes! I'm what you would call a 'man who's beauty transcends that of women'," Okami answered. Lee scratched the back of his head, still unsure of what to make of it all.

"So...Okami-san is a girl?" Lee asked, still troubled by the anonymity of his opponent's gender.

"I wish I could be," the cross dresser admitted with a dreamy sigh.

"What are you doing Lee? Finish him already!" came the voice from his ear piece. Hozaku couldn't stand having to watch Lee converse with a transgender having never seen one before in his life. The naivety of the boy has reached a boiling point for the old worn out fight promoter. Startled by his command, Lee stuck out a fist and got ready to pound his opponent until he couldn't taken it anymore.

"Well whatever you are, I'm not going to let you win!" Lee hollered. Okami cringed from the volume and enthusiasm of his voice and let out an annoying shirk, trying to imitate the response of a woman at this particular situation. Lee easily became confused again. He turned around to face Hozaku.

"Is that a guy or a girl?" he asked him.

Right when he showed his back to his opponent, Okami took that chance to punch Lee across the back of his head. The young ninja recovered from the sneak attack and rolled away from the gender challenged fighter and countered with a kick to the crotch. Once his feet connected with the southern region of Okami, all hell broke lose.

"Never mind, Hozaku-san!" Lee shouted as he found his answer. Okami dropped to his knees and shook uncontrollably, batting his eyelashes in disbelief.

"How...What...How can you?" the cross dresser muttered. He turned his head around sharply and glared at the young boy behind him.

"Die!" he shouted, as he got back up from the concrete pavement. He dashed across the stage and swiped at the thick brow ninja with his long, perfectly polished nails that he colored magenta just before the battle. Lee easily avoided his deadly nails and took hold of his left arm firmly. Then he used Okami's momentum and swung his arms around over his head. His gender confused opponent landed on the surface of the stage with a thud and his consciousness slipped away from him completely, leaving him to swim in his own drools.

"Winner, Rock Lee and Hozaku Tomahara!" the loud stadium speakers screamed. The two partners stood in the middle of the arena to be congratulated by the crowd. As they waved to the audience, Hozaku leaned closer to his fighter.

"If you stall like that again, I'm not going to help you out, Lee," he warned him. Lee gulped and opened his mouth to speak.

"I'm sorry. It's just...I've never seen anything like that before," he admittedly shyly.

"A woman with manly attributes...I'm gonna have to send a letter to Gai-sensei about this."

**Chapter 10: One Monkey, Two Monkey**

Out on the prairie, Rock Lee was finishing up his ab work out to harden his stomach so he can take more hits. Hozaku sat five feet away from him while reading a magazine silently to himself. Lee eyed him quietly as he cleansed his face of sweat with a tiny towel supplied by the hotel.

"You don't have to watch me train," Leetold him. Without looking up, the older man shook his head in disagreement, flipping the page to read another article.

"Last time I left you to train by yourself, you nearly crushed your fist. This is all just a precaution, so don't mind me at all," he answered. Lee pouted at the notion of him being not responsible, but he knew it to be true. He got on all fours and began to do fifty reps of hundred push ups for each hands.

"So when's my next match?" Lee asked, slightly grunting as he switched his hands around on the dirt.

"Next Tuesday," Hozaku briefly replied, looking up new appliances and break through technologies in washing clothes.

"Who am I going against?" he asked again, not being able to wait to get back on the arena.

"Hisoka Masaki. Some ninja guy from the Hidden Rock, I hear," he recalled. Lee's eyes brightened and twinkled upon hearing this news. So far in the competition, he has battled against tough opponents, but none of them were ninjas. This would be the first time he actually battled a ninja in the entire tournament.

"What's his record?" Lee asked, suddenly being unable to contain his excitement, switching his hands again to continue his exercise.

"Clean three. He's gotten through seven battles and won six of them by KO. One of them by ring out," he answered, suddenly remembering something.

"Oh yeah, I hear he's a weirdo. But then again, compared to you, I guess he's not so bad..." he commented. Lee was too busy day dreaming and training to come up with a snappy remark for Hozaku to chew on. Not that he was good at it anyways.

"Lee," the promoter called out. The young Genin looked over and saw a piece of rock being thrown his way. He leaned back and threw his fist up and crushed the projectile, but only a part of it turned into a grain of sand.

"Not quite there yet," teased Hozaku. Lee snapped his finger in disappointment.

"But I got the form down. Folding your fist half way when you make an impact, then clenching it together for the final blow," the young ninja explained, making a wide motion with his fist as a visual aid. The older man nodded.

"I'm the one who taught you the technique. You don't need to tell me how it's done, idiot," Hozaku snapped. Lee blushed and combed his hair over to straighten his bowl cut.

"Anyways, let's go get something to eat," the older man suggested.

----------------------------

The narrow passage way of the market place in Maple Village was choked with street venders trying to sell some Maple Village Tournament related merchandise and greasy snack foods. The majority of the people gathered in this part of the village were spectators from other regions of the world, who were looking for some good restaurants serving some of the finest native dishes. On the other hand, there were people like Hozaku who were too cheap to buy anything, but bland instant ramen cups from old vending machines. He purchased two bowls for him and Lee and looked around for some hot water to pour over their dinner.

"I don't know how much longer I can go on with just eating this, Hozaku san..." Lee complained as he trailed behind him in their search for hot water. Hozaku ignored him and looked around for tea pots at random stalls and booths. Hopelessly Lee followed him until he heard someone calling out his name. Not expecting much, he turned around and saw Asuma walk towards him, the rubbery fighter from his first battle in Maple Village. He was wearing a white tank top this time around so Lee didn't recognize him right away, being that he usually socialized with people who wore the same stuff everyday.

"Asuma-san?" Lee asked. Asuma stretched out his right arm and waved at him, as he casually walked over.

"Don't tell me you've already forgotten about me? That would suck since I remember you being the only one to defeat me so far," he remarked. Lee looked at his bulging biceps that stretched out to an unknown length on command.

"Of course I remember you, Asuma-san! How are you doing so far?" Lee greeted. Asuma looked at him doubtfully, but brightened up in an instant.

"Five wins and one loss. If I keep it up, I guess I'll have another chance to fight you and finally have my revenge!" he exclaimed ecstatically. Lee scratched the back of his head shyly, as he faked a chuckle. Asuma gazed at him with a friendly smile, placing his arms at his sides.

"Of course, you won't lose until then, will you?" he asked. Lee showed him a confident face and pumped his arm before him.

"Of course not!" he shouted. Then he remembered something.

"Ah, Asuma-san. Do you know about a person named Hisoka Masaki? He's supposed to be my next opponent, and I was just wondering..."

Asuma squinted, implying that he was thinking hard about Lee's question.

"I could've sworn I heard something about him...Something about him being not quite right in the head..." he explained.

"But compared to you, he probably won't seem like such a nut job!" Asuma replied, laughing maniacally afterwards.

Rock Lee shivered at the strange sense of deja vu.

"Lee, I found some hot water!" shouted Hozaku from an unknown distance. Lee cringed upon hearing his name and turned around immediately to catch up to his promoter. But before he can, he waved back at Asuma.

"I'll see you later, Asuma-san!" he yelled. The young ninja dashed across the street, leaving Asuma behind to continue to laugh on his own.

But he wasn't looking at where he was going and eventually bumped into another person, causing both of them to fall on the busy dirt path and kick up a cloud of dust around them. They both coughed violently and fanned their arms around wildly to clear their vision.

Lee dusted his clothes and offered a helping hand to the person next to him before realizing who it was.

"Ah, Okami...san?"

The feminine fighter nursed his clean shaven chin before glaring at Lee.

"Even when we're outta the ring you piss me off, you ugly boy!" Okami hollered. Lee narrowed his sea weed like eye brows.

"What a thing to say! Well, Gai sensei tells me that I'm a beautiful person!" he shouted back, stomping the ground underneath him to show him that he means business.

"Hmph, then I guess this Gai sensei must have a low standard of beauty," he commented, pursing his lips and checking out his bruised face through a pocket mirror. Anger seethed through Lee once he heard the man insult his role model before him.

"Gai sensei has high standards for everything!" Lee corrected, flailing his arms around to make his point clear.

Hozaku came out of nowhere and began to drag Lee away forcibly.

"Don't make a scene and have your damn ramen," his promoter advised. Lee pouted and crossed his arms, allowing himself to be dragged around the town.

--------------------------------

The weekend had passed by quickly, and Tuesday finally crept its way into everyone's lives. Lee steadied himself for his upcoming battle in the locker room while Hozaku was in the process of prepping his fighter for his seventh fight.

"I wasn't able to gather much information on Hisoka, other than the fact that he seems to use strange ninjutsu techniques involving...something. I forget, but in my age, it's pretty damn impressive that I even retained that much information. So have faith in me while you're up there, got it?" Hozaku cheered. His prepping did Lee no good, and they both knew that it was a waste of time. But Hozaku pretended to have given him some valuable insights.

"Let's make it all the way to the top!" shouted the old man. Lee gripped his fist and pumped it high in the air to acknowledge him.

"To the top!" he repeated.

-----------------------------------

The stage set for the two fighters in this particular fight was a plain pool of water with two platforms floating on top of it. The two fighters took refuge on the floating pieces of rubber and eyed the other while they waited for their match to begin.

Lee observed that his opponent was sporting a black short sleeve turtle neck shirt, with both his arms wrapped tightly in bandages. His beige shorts came down to his knees, and his left leg was bandaged tightly as well. Nothing about his features seemed out of the ordinary, including his sunglasses, similar to that of Ebisu and Shino.

Except for the spider monkey resting on top of his right shoulder.

This bothered Lee a lot, not because of its presence, but because it was humping the side of its owner's head like there was no tomorrow. And Hisoka just stood there, seemingly oblivious to its pet deflowering his head.

'Maybe this is what Hozaku and Asuma san meant by the guy being weird...But how come they both think I'm much weirder than him!' Lee quietly thought to himself.

"Are you prepared to die?" came a voice from the opposite side. Lee was about to answer him with a witty remark, but...

" Cuz I am," Hisoka shouted again. Lee face faulted on the platform.

"What is up with this guy..." came a voice from Lee's ear piece. Hisoka's mannerism has apparently intrigued his promoter as well.

"Definitely not as weird as you though..." Hozaku observed. Lee turned around abruptly to face his promoter on the dry surface behind him.

"What are you talking about!" the young Genin cried out.

"You want some pocky?" Hisoka asked. Lee turned around and saw the strange ninja offering him a piece of pocky from far away, while munching on an empty box. And his monkey was now slumped on top of his head with a cigarette pinched between its fingers, looking as exhausted as ever. Lee looked beyond his opponent to see who his promoter was and saw an old man sleeping peacefully on the floor.

"What the hell..." Lee muttered.

"Commence the fight!" the stadium speakers roared. Lee didn't let himself be swept by Hisoka's antics and dashed across the surface of the water, causing waves to rise and crash behind him. He flung himself over Hisoka's form and landed behind him. He then immediately swept his leg over to knock his opponent down, but the strange ninja avoided his attack quite swiftly.

"Oh, I need to recycle this," Hisoka muttered. Not knowing what he was talking about Lee tried to face him but something hit his face and blocked his vision. He cleared away the tiny pocky box that landed on his face and saw that there was something stuck to its surface.

"An...explosive tag?"

As soon as he found out what it was, the pocky box exploded and Lee was sent flying into the pool. He found his grip in mid flight and kneeled over the water, leaving himself open for attacks.

"Take this, too," came the monotone voice of Hisoka. Lee watched a barrage of kunais being thrown his way. He dodged the countless projectiles, but lost sight of his opponent.

"Where is he?" he whispered.

"Behind you!" warned Hozaku.

"Behind me?" the boy repeated for his sake. He looked over his shoulder and saw the same projectiles he dodged coming back towards him.

"What!" he gasped. He rolled away and ducked underneath the flying kunais, avoiding them just in the knack of time.

"I call this my Flying Takoball Combo," Hisoka commented, orchestrating the movements of his weapons with the flick of his fingers.

"It's the Flying Octopus Combo, and it's mine!" Lee screamed as he ran away from the sharp objects seemingly following him wherever he went. Lee was actually quite surprised at the fact that his opponent had researched him beforehand, while he knew little to nothing about Hisoka. However, it was not the time to be impressed.

"And only I know its weakness!"

The young azure beast took out a shuriken and threw it towards the strange ninja. Hisoka controlled his kunais and targetted the shuriken, while still pursuing Lee with his left set of kunais.

Suddenly, the shuriken curved inwards and broke through his kunai defense. This caught the strange ninja off guard.

"That's right, now you'll have no choice, but to concentrate on the shuriken instead of on me," Lee murmured.

"Oh dear," the Hidden Rock Genin sulked.

"King Ghidora, take care of this please."

Lee saw the spider monkey leap from behind his opponent and latch the flying shuriken with its jaws, leaving its master unharmed. He didn't count on for that to happen, which frustrated him even further.

But nonetheless, Hisoka stopped his onslaught of kunais.

"King Ghidora, mad ape transformation technique."

Hisoka performed a simple set of hand seals and it transformed his pet into a giant rampaging gorilla. It roared as it towered over Lee, dragging its knuckles over the body of water and causing the entire pool to ripple.

"I did not see that coming," Hozaku commented. Lee felt the same way.

Not a moment too soon, the gorilla began to pummel the pool and chase after Lee.

"Why can he walk over water as well!" he asked as he went on to continue running away from his opponent. Lee turned around and performed a drop kick to the gorilla's massive stomach, and sprung himself even further away from the monster.

"Damn it, normal attacks don't work on that thing," he figured as he sprinted for his life.

"Of course. That's King Ghidorah for you."

Lee looked to his side and saw Hisoka running along side him.

'When did he get so close to me...' Lee wondered, suddenly alarmed by his presence. He then began to trade fists with him until they came to the edge of the pool, from where they made a sharp turn and continued their exchange. Lee grazed his opponent's cheek with his outstretched leg and felt himself being lifted into the air with an uppercut.

The young Genin dropped like a rag doll into the water. From what he can see from the depth of the pool, the gorilla stopped chasing after him and the boy sat cross legged on the surface.

"Aquatic ape transformation!" Lee heard being shouted from the top. Then he saw the giant monster transform into a mermaid like creature with the body of a monkey and a shark. The monkey swam through the water with ease and chased after its target. Lee remained still, and released a compact fish net from his pack, capturing the monkey successfully. He swam up towards the surface and threw his catch towards Hisoka, which knocked him off his position.

"Try again, Hisoka-kun!" challenged Lee.

Three minutes later, Lee found himself being chased around by the gigantic gorilla form of King Ghidora again.

"I am getting sick of running away!" he complained.

"There's really not much you can do right now," Hozaku sympathized. Something snapped in Lee's mind upon hearing that.

"Maybe there's one thing left that I can still try!" he shouted with confidence.

Lee jumped into the air and pulled his fist back as far as he can.

"Futari no Kiwami!" he screamed, swinging as hard as he can towards King Ghidora's face. As soon as his fist connected with the monster's chin, the gorilla felt itself being lifted at least five feet into the air. Blood fumed from its mouth and it collapsed into the water. When the body resurfaced again, it turned back into the small spider monkey it originally was.

The crowd went silent after that blow.

"A half assed punch like that actually worked, huh," Hozaku thought out loud.

"As long as it worked..." Lee whispered, breathing heavily as he landed back on the water.

He watched Hisoka walk over to his pet and inspect its condition. He then placed his palm on its forehead, his hand being engulfed by the bluish glow of chakra.

"Chakra transfer jutsu," the hidden rock ninja uttered, reviving his pet with the technique. Lee's eyes became wide when he saw the monkey rub its eyes as if it's been asleep briefly and climb back on top of its master's shoulder.

"Looks like it's not over for the monkey," said Hozaku. Lee gripped his fists tightly as he waited for the counter measure.

Hisoka crouched over and performed another set of hand seals.

"Beast human transfusion jutsu!" he shouted. Then suddenly, the monkey's form began to meld in with Hisoka's form. Suddenly, the rock ninja sprouted brown fur all over his body, and a long coiling tail grew out from behind him. His fangs grew longer until they hung over his lips, and his nails grew sharper as well.

"They fused together!" exclaimed Lee. He saw Hisoka growl and stand on all fours, glaring down its prey with its jaws clattering menacingly. He crept to the left and moved quickly back to his right and vanished from the leaf ninja's sight.

Lee looked around his perimeter, but before he knew it, Hisoka pounced him from behind and tried to bite his face off. Lee struggled with him and eventually kicked him over his head and got back up on his feet. The feral ninja got back up quickly as well and swiped at Lee's body, but our hero side stepped and brought his hand over to jab his opponent's side. Then the leaf Genin closed gaps on him and gathered his hands into a ball and brought it up to connect it with the chin of the beast form of Hisoka. But his opponent took that chance to grab his hands and use his tail to wrap it around Lee's neck in order to suffocate him.

"Damn..." the young Genin barely muttered as he tried his best to get out of his bondage.

Lee finally pulled his fist away from him and tried to pry Hisoka's tail away from his throat, but the beasty ninja spun around him with his long coiling body part still hanging around his neck and flipped him over using his tail as a leverage.

Lee fell into the water, having lost his chakra grip, and found himself in a situation where it was even harder for him to breath. Bubbles escaped from his mouth, as he felt himself losing his consciousness. With the last bit of strength left in him, he tugged at the tail and bit it as hard as he possibly can. From the surface of the water, Hisoka yelled out in pain and let go of Lee.

The young ninja climbed back out of the water, coughing feverishly as he found his chakra grip back. He stood back on top of the pool and watched Hisoka jumping around as he tried to ease his pain.

Lee steadied himself and dashed across the pool towards his target. He cartwheeled once over the water and lifted himself into the air, high above his opponent. While he wasn't looking, Lee wrapped his legs around his neck and tossed him away by arcing his back and using his momentum to whip the rock village ninja away with his legs. Hisoka bounced over the water and got back on all fours.

The ferocious looking ninja searched for Lee, but he was nowhere to be seen. Just then, a figure erupted before Hisoka and performed a clean uppercut on him that knocked around his brain inside his skull. While the ninja was airborne, Lee linked his hands around Hisoka's waist and they both flew into the air. On their descent, Lee along with Hisoka in his arms began to somersault their way back towards the water. Lee let go of Hisoka and let gravity and inertia take its toll on the rock ninja.

Hisoka landed hard over the water and shook his head around to rid himself of his headache, but before long, he saw Lee flying down towards him.

"Futari no Kiwami!" Lee yelled, pulling his fist back as far as he can.

Hisoka stared on, even after Lee made his contact with his forehead. The rock village ninja's body became limp immediately afterwards and it began to float over the pool. The master and his monkey became separate forms again, and they both had swirls for eyes as they drifted across the water peacefully.

"Winner, Rock Lee and Hozaku Tomahara," the speakers announced. Lee kneeled over the water from exhaustion and took a deep sigh of relief.

"Achhoo!"

Lee sniffled a bit and wiped his nose.

"Achoo!"

Hozaku stared at him quizzically from the dry surface. Lee continued to sneeze afterwards, which raised eyebrows in the crowd.

"Ah crap," Lee muttered before sneezing again.

To be continued...

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**Author's Notes**: This is where I would normally say something to justify my quality of writing or something, but I'm too tired. 


	11. Cold Relief

**_Author's Notes:_** I am terribly sorry to the few readers I have for taking so long to come up with this chapter. I've been meaning to write sooner, but I was switching out of jobs and everything, plus college, and I had to set my priorities. So...with that, I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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Rock Lee didn't like being sick. The splitting headache, the sore throat, the lack of appetite, the runny nose...There weren't any particular part of the common cold that Rock Lee enjoyed. 

Not that most others do.

In his entire life, at least, the part where he trained under Matou Gai, he learned to boost his immune system through intensive training. Maybe it was all the splashing in the water he did in his last match that got him a little under the weather, but that couldn't possibly explain how he could've made it through all those rigorous training in major thunderstorms with his unreasonable instructor, Gai.

"Achoo!"

Lee wrapped himself even tighter with the thick blanket that his promoter provided for him. Hozaku fed more wood into the fire that burned in the middle of their camp.

"I can't believe that we got kicked out of our room," Lee whispered, wiping his nose with the back of his hand.

Hozaku sat silently, mildly entertained by the burning fire.

"How much did that room cost us anyway, that fragile looking thing? It couldn't possibly have costed more than a few yen...And we don't even have that anymore."

Hozaku became uneasy, sitting there while listening to Lee's complaints.

"Not only that, but I'm sick now, so I can't even properly train myself until my next match, so I have to–"

"Shut up!" Hozaku shouted.

"I will not pay another yen for that god forsaken room ever again! I already told you before, that room should be free! Hell, we should be paid to stay in such a place! Now, I do not want to discuss this matter any further, so you keep quiet and try to get better real quick!" he added.

Lee began to cough feverishly. When he thought it was over, he sneezed a giant sneeze and blew out their camp fire. That caught Hozaku off guard.

"What the hell?" he remarked. Lee sniffled a bit.

"You didn't have to be so cheap to try and get the room free of charge, Hozaku-san," he said.

"No, wait...How did you do that?" his promoter asked. Lee was puzzled.

"Do what now?"

"The thing you did now, the...How did you blow out the damn fire?" questioned the frustrated adult. Lee looked towards the burnt out woods, smoke still rising out from within.

"Oh, sorry about that. I tried to keep it down, but it still seems to give me trouble," Lee sincerely apologized.

Hozaku stared in disbelief at what once provided them with their only source of warmth. Then he snapped his finger to display his epiphany.

"Lee, we now have a sure way of winning our next match!" he yelled.

Rock Lee didn't know how to respond to that.

"Really? Then can we find another hotel and discuss this?" he asked in hopes of sleeping on a mattress that night.

"No," his partner replied.

**Chapter 11: Cough Relief**

The night was wet. A passing storm cloud generated enough rain water to flood Lee and Hozaku's temporary camp. But they weren't trying to keep the water out of their resting place. In fact, Hozaku seemed to welcome the nice surprise and tied up Lee in a puddle of mud, outside in the rain.

"Why are we doing this, Hozaku san!" Lee hollered, rolling back and forth to keep the rain water out of his eyes. This proved to be difficult since he laid inside a patch of mud water that got into his eyes when rain failed to get inside it first.

"Yes, keep rolling Lee! Worsen your condition! And when you're at the peak of your cold, we'll have the next match in a bag!" His promoter cackled like a mad man in the middle of the night.

"What? When is our next match anyways?" asked Lee.

"It's tomorrow!" Hozaku replied, now dancing beside his partner.

"What! Then shouldn't we be training or something instead of...well, this?" he further inquired.

"Shut up! This is more than enough for now! Don't question my method, just do as I say!"

Lee stopped struggling. He just laid there, staring up into the night sky. Drops of water began to blur his vision, but he kept on staring anyways.

"I miss you, Gai sensei," he whispered. He then began to tear up and curl into a ball like a baby.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the Hidden Village of Konoha...

"I miss you, too, Rock Lee..."

Maitou Gai curled into a ball in his green pajamas as he subconsciously yearned for his favorite student.

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Time passes slowly when you're trying to get some sleep in a pool of mud. Rock Lee managed to untie the soggy ropes that placed him in bondage, but continued to lay there, staring into the cloudless sky.

Then something appeared in his vision.

"Eat this," the figure seemed to say, as he threw him an onigiri. Lee picked up his food and tossed it up, which then descended into his hungry mouth. His cheeks puffed up as he started to chew his food, saddened and homesick. Then as he about to digest his onigiri, he felt himself being picked up by his partner. No, he felt someone trying to pick him up.

"What in the world? How much does someone like you weigh anyways?" asked the man, huffing after all his effort has gone to waste.

"Hozaku-san. I don't feel so good..." Lee admitted. Hozaku continued to try and pick up his fighter, but it proved to be an impossible task, seeing as how Lee always wore his weights underneath his orange leg warmers. Not only that, but he recently increased it to 1.5 times its previous amount.

Lee picked himself up and wiped his nose with the back of his hand. Then suddenly, he let out a giant sneeze and felt himself being blown away into the air. Hozaku stood still, watching Lee carry himself all the way to their next fight.

"He's gotta be ready by now," he whispered, admiring the arch his fighter was making across the sky.

"I don't feel so well..." Lee repeated, now descending into the arena.

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"For our next fight, would contestants Rock Lee and Ikamaru Chou please come to the arena!" requested the announcer through the loud speaker phones. In the aftermath of an unscheduled storm, shallow puddle of water were visible across the field, and even the large sum of people gathered in the audience seemed to be having problem sitting in their wet concrete seats.

Ikamaru fixed his village head band that rested over his mouth and calmly waited for his opponent to show up. It wasn't too long before something shiny fell out from the sky and demolished half the arena upon impact. Out from the ashes stood a sickly looking child in a silly green uniform. Lee coughed violently as he stumbled out of from the dust and onto the remaining platform that wasn't destroyed by him.

Unfazed by his opponent's flashy entrance, the angry Ikamaru had only one thing to say to him.

"Do you think you're tough?"

Lee looked up, his eyes glazed with tear from having to choke down all the dust around him.

"I'm sorry?" Lee asked politely. Sighing, his opponent opened his mouth to once again, grace him with his voice.

"You're nothing special. I'll kill you if you think you are," he said.

"Yeah, kill him!" Ikamaru's promoter yelled from behind him, supporting his fighter with a thumbs down to signify Rock Lee's fate.

"What in the world are you talking about?" the groggy little ninja murmured, sniffling as he swayed back and forth, causing a worried stir in the audience.

"I am from the Hidden Light village. If you think you're tough shit just because you're from..."

Ikamaru studied Lee's village head protector.

"From the Hidden Village of...Swirly ice cream shit, then you're dead wrong. Because I'll kill you before you can do anything to me," he warned him. Lee took this time to consider his words.

"Killing your opponent gets you disqualified though, doesn't it?" the thick brow ninja innocently asked. Ikamaru remained silent.

"Are you saying that you're better than me?" the hidden light shinobi spat, not having much to say to Lee's previous words.

"Well, no, I think that–"

"Shut up," the light ninja ordered. "Cuz you're not. I am the best ninja there is, so there cannot possibly be another ninja who is better than me. That's like saying that an egg could break a stone, when the stone can obviously break the egg before that egg thinks it's some tough shit and tries to mess with the rock. But no, a rock will defeat the egg all the time, no matter what. And your existence is like an egg to me, who is a rock."

Lee didn't quite follow, but he was sure that it was supposed to intimidate him.However, he was feeling too sick to feel anything but his increasing headache.

"Why aren't they starting the match yet?" Lee wondered, as Hozaku finally arrived at his sideline.

"A little chit-chat between two fighters in the beginning of a fight is good publicity. Apparently, this Ikamaru kid is well-known for it. The crowd eats up his nonsense because it's so stupid that they actually think it's deep or something," Hozaku explained. Lee didn't understand what was so deep about his little soliloquies, but he heard the crowd mumble above him. They were dissecting his comment and analyzing his speech pattern as if they were scholars deciphering an ancient philosophy.

"Why am I continually being matched up against such oddballs?" Lee thought out loud. His partner snickered as he made himself comfortable at the other end.

"That guy won't be talking for too long if you do what your instinct tells you to do today..." he said. Lee didn't quite understand it, but he wanted to get today's match done and over with as quickly as possible. Normally, he'd be excited to fight another opponent, but the common cold had sucked out his enthusiasm and any hopes for an easy win.

"Well, now we'll proceed with the fight!"

As soon as the large boom of the announcer's voice had died down, a large electronic clock began to count down to the start of their match. Once it hit zero, Ikamaru speed walked towards Lee in a ridiculously fast pace, and looking pretty much ridiculous in general, with the back of his hand drawn across his face, ready to bitch slap the leaf village Genin.

"What?" Lee had no time to respond, because he had to sneeze.

And once he did, his opponent disappeared. Rather, Ikamaru ducked at the last second as a violent hurricane of some kind had erupted from Lee's mouth.

Even Lee was surprised by that one, though he should've had somewhat of an idea, since it wasn't the first time he had sneezed that day.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked himself, looking back with a puzzled expression, seeking some sort of an answer from his promoter. Hozaku was smirking, his arms crossed over his chest.

"The ultimate remedy to annoying ninjas, the common cold." He laughed out loud at his own one-liner.

Lee didn't like the mischievous look on his face.

"So you think you've got me now, huh!"

The leaf ninja turned around and caught glimpse of his opponent approaching him once more.

'_Well, now or never,'_ Lee thought and let out another sneeze that he's been holding back for some time. A gust of wind lashed out towards Ikamaru, lifting him up high and letting him go at a high altitude. The conceited ninja collapsed against the arena floor and felt a rush of pain through his body.

"That didn't hurt at all!" he screamed back. But he took his time to recover and get back up again. Lee, being a true martial artist, didn't seek the opportunity and waited for him to proceed with the fight.

"Take this!" the light ninja hollered, throwing a number of shurikens toward Lee. The leaf Genin used his nimble body to dodge the projectiles and drew out a kunai, excited that he had somehow gained an edge in a situation he seemed hopeless at first.

Then suddenly, a sharp pain rang inside his head. He dropped to his knees, nursing his forehead as he felt his headache pounding against his skull.

"Damn..." he moaned weakly, his hand still clutching the kunai. His opponent was now right in front of him. He drew back his leg and punted the crouching ninja across the field. Lee rolled on his back and skid to a nearby puddle.

"Crap, I was betting on this fight to be over quickly, so his headache wouldn't kick in soon," Hozaku revealed. "Just hold on a little longer..."

Lee splashed some water on his face to cool himself, but his forehead was now searing hot. He practically caused the puddle to be evaporated in seconds.

"I appeal to you, Spring time of youth...Give me the strength to kick this guy's ass!"

Lee snapped. He ran towards his opponent, but he went flying back down on the floor again, as Ikamaru had a head start.

"Told you I was better," the light ninja boasted. He gathered his hands and performed a complicated set of seals. Suddenly, a burst of light blinded the young leaf Genin. In his temporary condition, he felt his own ribs being pounded in by a figure he can sort of grasp from the corner of his eyes.

"I've been through this before...Come one, Lee...Let's get it together..."

Rock Lee tried to remember his training with Gai. During their times together, they would practice combat without the aid of their vision. In Gai's words it was, "Essential for any warm blooded, pure hearted, justice loving ninja to be able to combat evil in the most darkest times." Literally.

"Then how come Neji doesn't need to join in on our practice?" his younger former self had asked on countless occasions. And Gai would always pat him on the head and say,

"Cuz he's got a pair of eyes on the back of his head."

Neji didn't like his crude description of his Byakugen ability, but he continued to ignore him as always. He admired the man for his strength and determination, but Neji can never get over his silly outfit. And for one of his teammate to have become almost exactly like his team leader was just as annoying.

"Neji...always disrespecting Gai-sensei..." Lee spat venom, still closing his eyes.

"What are you talking about?"

When he heard his enemy's voice in front of him, Lee lifted his fist purely by coincidence and delivered an effective uppercut against his chin. Soon, his light effect wore off and Lee was faced with the scene of Ikamaru twitching over the floor.

"Pure luck!" he managed to shout. He then rolled away to a safe distance and flipped him off.

"That wasn't luck at all. It was just pure clumsiness on your part," Lee retorted, shaking his head disapprovingly at his rude gesture.

"You still claim to be the best–"

"I never did!" Lee defended.

"–but you aren't! I am! And I will prove it to you now!"

Ikamaru crouched and performed a single hand seal. Soon, Lee felt as if the entire world has gone mad. In his eyes, he saw his opponent, but his body seemed to have become longer, his face contorted like a work of Picasso.

"Wh-What's going on?"

Lee tried to spot his promoter from a distance, but he looked so tiny. He turned back and saw the form of Ikamaru, now as thin as paper, strutting around like a work of origami.

"What did you do? I want an answer," Lee demanded, his physique already weak from his condition. Yet he was able to keep his composure, looking for any signs of a surprise attack.

"Stupid people like you wouldn't understand the genius of my technique!" the boy roared.

"Yeah? Well...Try me," Lee replied, his eyes becoming weary from looking at all these strange images.

'_A genjutsu? What exactly is going on?'_ he thought. He looked on and recognized a smirk on his strange looking opponent's face.

"I have the ability to bend light reflections at my disposal," he briefly explained. Outside the illusion, Ikamaru cracked his knuckles as he approached the delirious ninja.

"I think I sort of get what you're saying but...This is just another trick of the eye, isn't it? Just like the explosion of light earlier on!"

His opponent formed a knowing smile.

"Yes, this is another trick, but I can do several things with this that I couldn't with the other technique," he added. "Allow me to demonstrate it for you, you stupid twerp."

Suddenly, Lee felt thirsty. Almost like somebody was choking him mercilessly.

"Wha-What's going on?" he managed to say.

"I can make the particles of light to intensify and cause a heat wave of immeasurable...well, you get the idea."

Lee grasped his own neck, the thirst growing stronger within him. "Too damn hot," he whispered.

"And for my second trick..."

Alert, Lee spotted Ikamaru multiplying in numbers, all of the mirror images flipping him off with smug expressions on each of their distorted faces.

And shortly afterwards, he felt himself being pummeled once again by the enemy. He was now completely at his mercy, with his throat going completely dry, and his cold symptom growing stronger. He felt a sense of betrayal towards his promoter for aiding his illness, depending on his sickness to win over this fight. He looked back at him, but Hozaku seemed to be waiting for something.

Then Lee realized that he's been holding back his sneezes subconsciously for some time.

"I am really not used to this at all!" he shouted, sneezing against all of the figures before him. He was able to distract his opponent long enough to escape his genjutsu. Then he sniffled and let another unrestrained sneeze explode.

"Who is at...achoo! Who's mercy...achoo! Now?"

Ikamaru ran around the arena, dodging each sneezes miraculously, captivating the audience with his near fatal escape each time.

"I've been...achoo! Holding back my sneezes, cuz I have been always trying to hold 'em back...achoo! I mean...achoo! You learn to hold back your sneezes since you're...achoo...little, just so you wouldn't distract others...achoo! So I'm not really used to this sort of fighting...achoo!"

"Who taught you to hold it back!" Hozaku shouted angrily. "What kind of an environment did you grow up in where they tell you to hold back your sneezes?"

"Well, I grew up in a...achoo! Ninja village! Silence is a virtue amongst our kind!" Lee replied, in between firing his arsenal.

'_Well, that explains it...'_ Hozaku thought, finally being able to let out a sigh of relief.

"You rely too much on your only trump card!" screamed Ikamaru, taunting Lee while inwardly panicking at his sneezes becoming more accurate with each successive shots.

"Stop his movements at all cost, Lee!" Hozaku ordered. Lee gathered his hands around his mouth to adjust his aim and sneezed again, the explosive wind being shot out of his mouth like a cannon ball. This time, Ikamaru didn't come out of it unscathed. Half of his body felt the impact and went spiraling in mid-air. Lee took that chance to land his favorite, Konoha Whirlwind technique, as soon as his body descended to a favorable height. Lee laid still after landing the attack, his body now succumbing to the sickness.

"Damn...Just a little more..."

He saw Ikamaru still twitching, trying to get back on his feet after that devastating blow.

"Un-believable...This isn't acceptable!" he muttered over and over again.

Lee felt kind of sorry for him, but it wasn't the time to pity others, especially one's own foe. He fought hard to get to this point. He had to snatch his opportunity right then and there, or he will have to face defeat.

"What a day..." Lee groaned.

"Don't you talk like you've won this already!" Ikamaru screamed, the resentment clearly present in his voice. He struggled to crawl towards Lee's direction, with a kunai held tightly in his raised fist.

"I'll cut off your arms and toss you like a rag doll off this arena!" he shouted confidently.

"Th-That won't do, because I need my arms..." Lee responded seriously to his threat. Then he managed to get off his back and crawl towards his opponent as well, to meet him half-way.

Then as soon as they were at a point where they could reach out and grab the other, they got back up on their feet and clashed in the middle of the arena.

Lee jumped up and struck Ikamaru's shoulder with the heel of his leg, causing him to bend at his knees. Then Lee stuck out his right fist to hammer his face, but the light ninja head butted him squarely in the stomach, causing the young azure beast to reel back in pain. Grabbing his right leg, Ikamaru knocked him down and twisted around to fling him over his shoulder, but Lee grabbed onto his enemy's neck and pulled him backwards, creating a sort of human pulley in a stalemate.

"Let go!" ordered the annoyed light shinobi.

"You do it first!" Lee shouted, matching his opponents venomous undertone, word for word.

"Ahhh!"

"Ahhhh!"

"Grrrr!"

"Ahhh!"

"Oww...ow, ow, ow...!"

"Ah crap, ouch!"

Eventually, they both let go of each other. They both gasped for air, staring intently at one another.

"Why do you look at me in such way? Are you in love with me?" Ikamaru teased. Lee had no clue what he was getting at, since he was never exposed to the idea that there were other types of love, aside from those shared between a man and a woman.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I think being in love is beside the point, don't you think so?" said Lee.

"Man, you are just too dense for me!"

Pissed off, Ikamaru got up first and jumped on top of Rock Lee. But the azure beast pulled his legs to his chest and kicked up towards his foe's stomach, launching him back towards his own side.

"Don't be so hasty," he warned him. Huffing desperately like a fish out of water, Ikamaru glared at his opponent, his eyes like that of a cornered tiger.

"Why do you continue to say that you are the best when you...clearly...are not!"

This time, both Lee and Ikamaru got up at the same time. They raised their fists at each other, but at the last second, Ikamaru snuck underneath him and tied him up using his hidden fishing wires.

"There we go!" he shouted happily.

He then raised his hands once again and performed two different set of hand seals.

"Mind control technique!" he yelled. And as it would have it, Lee felt his own body beginning to move on its own.

"Wh-what's going on?"

He stepped closer to the edge of the arena.

"Sto-Stop this! This isn't fair at all!" Lee shouted, fearing what would happen if he stepped out of the ring.

"Please...Don't do this! This is cowardly, Ikamaru-kun!"

But it was too late. Lee felt himself hop down and heard the abrupt announcement of a ring out TKO. In the midst of the cheering of excited crowd above him, Lee felt his own hot tears streaming down his face uncontrollably. He turned back and faced Ikamaru, who now beamed down at him triumphantly.

"The best ninja always hide his trump card until the end, you stupid asshole. While you were off sneezing everywhere and shit, I hid my final technique until it was dire for me to use it. Of course, my Mind Control Technique comes with a hefty price of...at least half of my chakra," he explained, ever so enthusiastically. Then he collapsed on his knees pathetically.

"So I made my sacrifice and went for the TKO. I'm not proud of it, but a win is a win..." he said.

Lee fought back his tears, engraving Ikamaru's words in his mind so he would never forget it.

_To be continued..._

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**_Author's Notes:_** So that's Lee's first loss in the tournament. But not to worry, he still has two points in reserve, if you remember the previous chapters. Anyways, please read and review my work, so I can get better at this whole writing business. Thanks in advance.


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